Labyrinth of Fate
by Myra109
Summary: Adopted from Lazuli Quetzal. Twelve year old Leo Valdez has wound up in the Labyrinth and has met Percy and the crew, who take him to camp. How will this change the future? AU
1. A New Destiny

_Idea adopted from Lazuli Quetzal. I kept the main ideas, but I've also altered a lot of things to give it my own personal touch, but I give the idea credit to Lazuli Quetzal_

 _Warnings: language, mentions of abuse, violence_

* * *

"What are you going to do with the boy, Chronos?" A deep voice asked in confusion and what sounded like fear.

"I'm going to send him back in time to the time of the Labyrinth," an even deeper voice replied as if the answer were perfectly obvious. The Labyrinth. Why did that sound so familiar?

"And you're going to wipe his memory of the future. How on earth is he supposed to save the world if he doesn't remember what happens?!"

"Listen, Dameus. If we send the boy back with all of his memories, he will be overcome by grief over his lost friends and siblings, but if we give him the memories as they are needed, he will not go insane or become so distracted that he will not complete his mission."

"Alright, but how do you plan to send him back? Gaea blocked the powers of everyone, even the ancient ones, such as you and Chaos!"

"Like this." There was a loud crack sound, like someone snapping their fingers in a silent room. The last thing that the semi conscious demigod heard was Chronos saying, "You should remember that I am much more powerful than Gaea, Dameus."

* * *

Why do these things always happen to me?! Twelve year old Leo Valdez thought as he raced through the streets with Social services right on is tail. He'd been on the run from another foster home, a highly abusive one mind you, and now, if he didn't find a place to hide, he'd get hauled right back to that hell.

Finally, his soaked black sneakers hit something with a clang, and looking down, the Latino boy realized that it was a steel cover that surely disguised the entrance to a sewer. Yanking it off with the little strength he had in his bruised, thin arms, Leo pulled the cover off, dropped onto the ladder, and replaced the manhole cover.

His sneakers make a _plop_! sound as he landed on the ground and began to walk through the dark tunnels, ignoring the putrid smells that met his nose.

 ***Hours Later***

Several hours had passed, maybe five or six, and Leo still strolled through the walls of cement, despite his weariness. The brown eyed boy wanted nothing more than to collapse to the floor and sleep forever, yet he knew that if he did that, he risked someone finding him while his guard was lowered. It was unlikely for anyone to come into the sewer but it had happened to him before when a worker had found him curled up in an alcove and dragged him to the police station.

Hisss! A noise met Leo's ears, causing him to jump and come around swinging, his flashlight swishing through the air and hitting the wall. The beam of light flickered, but thankfully, didn't go out.

"Who's there?" He shouted, scanning the area, but found no one. He brushed it off and turned to leave, only to cry out and wield his flashlight like a weapon. Three old ladies sat in ancient rocking chairs and all of their eyes were gray and gazed over, as if they were blind. The middle one held a basket of red orange thread while the other two knit these giant socks.

 _"New Destiny. Rewritten,"_ they hissed in unison, unraveling their creation and beginning to knit in back together. " _Choose, demigod, choose_." And with that, they vanished.

Okay, Leo was seriously freaked out. Three old ladies in the middle of a sewer, knitting and hissing about a new destiny. That's weird. More hisses sounded from behind him and Leo began running. He didn't know how long he ran, but he didn't stop until after the cement walls faded into mosaic bricks.

That's when the fire user froze. This night kept getting weirder and weirder.

"A little demigod all alone," a voice spoke, causing Leo to spin around and face a girl with light brown hair and hazel eyes. Runes were drawn on her arms and jeans, and she was pointing a dagger at Leo. "Now, come with me or your fate won't be a pretty one. I also feel the need to inform you that I am not squeamish about blood, half blood."

The unarmed twelve year old didn't know what else to do. He obeyed.

* * *

"We got another one," the snake woman chuckled, pushing Leo to the ground. "Sssmells like fire."

The boy glanced up and went white with terror at the sight of a ten foot tall giant standing above him, a single eye blinking at the demigod.

"Very good. He will be a great show. Take him to the chambers; the fights shall begin," the cyclops commanded, his face splitting into a wide smile.

The brown haired preteen was yanked to his feet and dragged down a corridor, where armor was tossed at him.

"Put it on now," the monster demanded. Leo obliged, slipped the armor on with an experienced touch. He knew where to put what, what connected to what, where the armor had to cover lest he be cut in two. "Letsss go," She growled.

Leo finished quickly and followed her out to the same big room that she'd forced him into before. It was a humongous ring of bleachers that held horrifying monsters, some humans, and up in a booth, sat the giant and a blonde man in his early twenties. Why were humans here? Leo didn't want to be here, but he was forced to. These people seemed happy to be here.

"First opponent!" The giant bellowed and out of a corridor on the opposite end stepped a cyclops, maybe two to three feet taller than four foot tall Leo. "Cyclops."

"In this corner, demigod, unclaimed!" Leo was shoved out into the open and several boos sounded around the demigod. "Choose your weapon, limit of two."

All of their eyes were on the him. "A dagger and hammer," he said immediately, but he didn't know where it came from. He didn't know how to use a dagger and a hammer didn't seem like much help, but his gut told him that both were useful. Both weapons magically materialized in his hands.

"FIGHT!"

The Cyclops charged. Leo sheathed the dagger and raced forward to meet it. Using the momentum from the run, the fire user leaped into the air, propelling off of the creature's right thigh, and clambered up the monster's arm. Heating up his body in order to heat the knife at his side, he began to pound it's head with the hammer and holding onto it as it stumbled. Unsheathing the red hot dagger, he stabbed the monster's eye, causing pain to shoot through the creature (sure, it's fire proof, but a red hot danger to the eye can't feel to good). While it was distracted, Leo stabbed it in the neck and watched as gold sand poured from the wound.

The arena was filled with shocked silence. No one had beaten a Cyclops that quickly before. Leo sat in the center of it all, covered in sand and exhausted but he forced himself to stand. Just as he did, the door opened to reveal a burly man with greasy black hair and dark eyes.

"My Lord, I bring you a fighter."

The giant smiled. "Who is this fighter?"

"His name is Persues Jackson."

Percy.


	2. Visions of a previous life

_I am so sorry for the long awaited update! I just got back from vacation so I'm working on updating all of my fantictions! This chapter will start to detail into what went wrong in the future, so read and let me know what you think._

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing that you recognize. If I did, I wouldn't be writing on this website.**

* * *

Percy. He knew that name, despite that hardly anyone possessed that name anymore. But where did he know him from?

Pain was exploding in his head and fireworks shone brightly in front of his eyes.

 _A boy with black locks and sea green eyes was screaming at him while a blonde girl held him back..._

 _Watching the boy and girl fall into a never ending abyss..._

 _Fighting to escape his bonds, which tied him to a pole, he could only watch the couple die as a sword was brought down on their heads, killing them instantly and awakening Gaea. The last of the seven, except for himself, were dead..._

Leo came back to reality to see a group of teenagers- pry between the ages of fourteen and fifteen- standing among the monsters, struggling against their inhumanly strong grasps.

The only boy among the group looked exactly like the boy from his vision with raven locks and sea green eyes that managed to be humorous and cold at the same time. He looked across the arena at Leo and for a brief second, the younger saw a flash of recognition but it disappeared as quickly as it had come. Seeing as the other two were girls, this must have been Percy Jackson.

One of the girls was the same girl that had been in his image as well. She had blonde, curly hair with stormy gray eyes that seemed to be swirling vortexes, like she was thinking of a million things a once. The girl was looking at Leo with an analyzing expression before the gray seemed to glaze over and she glanced away.

The last girl he recognized but not by much. Her curly hair was red and kind of poofy, but had been temporarily tamed back with a head band. Gold specks decorated her skin and hair like she'd been painting herself to look like a golden statue. Bright, emerald orbs stared at him, glazed over and hazy, like she was somewhere else entirely.

Anteaus was shouting something and the blonde girl yelled, "Percy! His mother is Gaea! Gaea-" the rest of her statement was muffled by the monsters hand as it clamped over her lips.

Gaea. Leo's head shot up. He knew that name. It was the woman from the machine shop all those years ago... _no, Leo, let's focus on not getting killed_! He thought

The fire user jolted back to the present just in time to see Percy draw his sword and then, Leo was shoved into the arena. Percy held his sword high and Leo drew his dagger, thinking 'I'm dead.'

"Why are you doing this?" Percy asked him.

"I don't know, man. I was running away from a foster home when I got dragged to this hell hole! But, if you have any idea why these monsters are living underground and want to kill me, speak now, would ya'?"

Shock was displayed in Percy's green eyes. "You mean... you really don't know? About any of this?"

"No! I wouldn't even be here if it weren't for me getting chased by a bunch of half dragon, half human things."

Percy's eyes darted up at the monsters. "Okay, I think I know a way that I can get us both out of here alive, okay? When that giant comes down here, back up and go over to my friends over there." The teenager motioned his head in the direction of the blonde and the red head over in the corner. "But, make it look natural. Don't look like you're trying to escape."

"Okay."

"What are you waiting for? Fight!" The giant shouted.

Percy lowered his sword and turned to face the giant. "Why don't you come fight me yourself? We can make a deal. You win, we die. I win, my friends and I go free. Swear it on the River Styx."

The giant chuckled. "This shouldn't take long. I swear to your terms."

"Percy," Leo whispered and the teenager turned back to him. "The blonde was trying to say that his mother is Gaea, goddess of the earth. Get him off the ground and you can defeat him, okay?"

Percy smiled as a thanks for the advice and nodded.

Leo slowly backed up towards the blonde and the red head where they were held captive by monsters and stared at the battle as it took place.

"Weapons?" Anteaus boomed.

"I'll stick with my sword. You?"

Anteaus cracked his knuckles and grinned a cruel, mocking smile that showed his rotten teeth. "I don't need weapons. Luke, you will referee this one."

The guy with the scar, Luke, stretched his face into a cold grin and said, "With pleasure."

The monster leaped out of the stands and landed across from Percy, the ground creaking and cracking under his weight.

Leo could only watch as his new ally was forced to fight the giant and either, live or die.

The ravenette rolled across the ground as the giant charged and stabbed him in the thigh, gold dust pouring from the wound and onto the dirt. The earth itself seemed to rise until soil encased his thigh before it quickly healed the wound, and not only closed the stab wound, but seemed to give him twice as much energy as before.

Percy looked suprised but not entirely shocked or fearful. In fact, his eyes seemed to be analyzing the arena, formulating a plan. His sea green orbs focused on the chains hanging from the ceiling and the boy smirked.

Leo grinned; he wasn't stupid. He knew what Percy was planning and he was happier than he'd ever been to know that this monster would die a painful death.

The ravenette leaped off of the dirt floor and grabbed hold of the chains, swinging from chain to chain like a monkey.

"Get back here, coward!" Anteaus bellowed, hopping up and down in an attempt to grab Percy and failing.

Leo stared before laughing slightly, drawing a strange glance from the red head, but he didn't care. It was the weirdest sight ever- a giant sumo wrestler in a loin jumping up and down like a toddler reaching for their favorite toy just out of reach.

Percy threw a chain like a lasso and snagged it on the giant's loincloth before dropping to the ground, leaving Anteaus suspended above the arena. The ravenette looked ready to collapse: panting, sweaty, legs quaking like they couldn't support him. Leo wanted to help him but he didn't dare until Anteaus was killed and Percy straightened himself to do just that.

"Let me down!" The monster complained, thrashing among the chains and creating a racket.

"Free him! He is our host!" The blonde guy with the scar yelled, angrily.

"Oh, I'll free him," Percy said, stabbing Anteaus in the stomach and watching as a waterfall of golden dust poured from the wound. Leo, the blonde girl, and the red head cheered while the monsters roared in the background, rage evident in their voices.

Percy turned to face Luke. "I won, so let my friends and I go!" He commanded.

The blonde hesitated and Leo knew that he was searching for a loop hole. Unfortunately, he found one. "Anteaus is dead. His oath dies with him! Attack!"

Just like that, monsters were surging towards them, weapons raised and claws held out, ready to claw their eyes out.

Percy, looking panicked, frantically searched his pockets and withdrew a glass whistle. He blew, yet no sound came out and nothing occurred.

"What was that supposed to do?" Luke laughed and Percy looked worried. Leo unsheathed his dagger and prepared himself to fight these beasts, but apparently he didn't have to.

A ginormous dog bounded into the arena, trampling monsters underfoot and licking others, which was creating a mighty distraction.

"Run!" Percy yelled and just like that, the trio was racing down the hall. Leo followed.

* * *

 **Rachel's POV**

Rachel didn't know who he was but she felt like she should. He stood across the arena, flanked by monsters, dressed in armor that was too big for him. The boy looked terrified.

Suddenly, a jolt of electricity ran through her and she gasped quietly, drawing strange looks from Percy and Annabeth. Images were flashing before her eyes at the speed of light.

 _The boy's hands catching fire, the flames quickly filling the machine shop, while a woman made of dirt let out a sleepy chuckle. The boy lost consciousness..._

 _The boy running from multiple foster homes for numerous reasons..._

 _The boy laying on his back on the sky walk above the Grand Canyon, alongside a blonde boy with electric blue eyes and a girl with choppy hair and kaleidoscope eyes..._

 _The boy surrounded by a wall of flames as he battled a woman that seemed to be radiating ice and coldness..._

 _The boy working on a ginormous ship..._

 _The boy's eyes changing from chocolate brown to gold as he fired basillists, mumbling something about can't let them ruin everything..._

 _The boy fighting these monsters that she recognized from history class, eidolins, while a burly teenage boy and a younger girl with curly brown hair were lying unconscious under a table nearby..._

 _The boy screaming as the blonde boy from the Grand Canyon tumbling through the air, a dagger sticking out of his side..._

 _The boy watching as the girl from the canyon close a pair of doors, crying silently..._

 _The burly boy and the curly haired girl screaming as flames burned around them while the boy was forced to watch, sobbing their names, Frank and Hazel..._

 _The boy tied to a post while two teens that looked a lot like Percy and Annabeth were tied to an alter and a sword was brought down on their heads..._

 _The boy lying on the floor while a man and a giant stood nearby, talking, before the man snapped his fingers and the boy disappeared..._

The name came to Rachel's mind. Leo Valdez.

If the monsters hadn't been holding her, she would have passed out right there. The red head realized that the boy, Leo, was standing a few mere feet away from her, watching as Percy stabbed Anteaus in the stomach.

Percy turned to face Luke. "I won, so let me and my friends go."

Luke seemed to be in shock, but he quickly over came it. "Anteaus is dead. His oath dies with him! Attack!"

The monsters surged forward and the demigods surged into action. Annabeth began to swing her dagger, which she'd somehow kept and hidden, at the creatures, turning several to golden dust. Percy retrieved a glass whistle from his pocket and blew. It shattered without and sound or an action.

Luke laughed. "What was that supposed to do?"

 _BANG! BOOM!_ A gigantic dog creature bounded into the arena, liking and stomping on monsters.

"Run!" Percy yelled, as if they needed to be told that. Annabeth, Rachel, and Leo complied, but a strange sensation was growing in Rachel's stomach.

That Leo kid was important. She just wasn't sure if it was for better or worse yet.

* * *

 _I'm having some writers block, so if you want to give me an idea on any of my stories, I would be very thankful! Thanks!_


	3. I've Always Run

_I'm back! For all of those who are also reading my stories Saving My Brother and All that Matters, I will be updating those soon but I had to write this chapter before I totally forget the idea! And finally, a review brought this to my attention, I may not have made it clear in the first chapter, but I did get permission to rewrite this story from Lazuli Quetzal. Thank you and on with the story._

 **Disclaimer: Do I own Percy Jackson yet? *Rick Riordan walks in, glaring***

 **"No," he replies.**

 ***stare at the audience * That a good enough answer for you? I don't own Percy Jackson or any of its magnificent characters. I also don't own the Kane Chronicles because they are briefly hinted at in this chapter.**

 _Warnings: slightly graphic mentions/memory of abuse, language_

* * *

"Well," Percy panted, leaning against a nearby wall. He'd been fighting monsters for three to four years and still, every marathon he ran left him winded. Or maybe that was the apprehension and the adrenilane coursing through him. Annabeth and Rachel looked the same way.

Leo, meanwhile, wasn't tired at all. He still had that look of fear on his face, but he was standing straight and, other than a few gasps for breath, looked completely fine. Energized even.

"You think we're safe to rest?" Rachel questioned, but before anyone could answer, the blonde remembered what side Leo had supposedly been on when they entered the arena.

She whirled around and held her dagger under the boy's chin as he held his hands up, defensively. He still had the dagger but he had no idea how to use it in a situation like this; Leo didn't know how he'd done what he'd done in the arena.

"Trying to join up with the right side now?" She growled.

A hand appeared on her shoulder. "Calm down, Annabeth. He was kidnapped."

The gray eyed girl relaxed a bit and lowered her weapon. "Okay, I believe you, but if you make one wrong move..." She raised her knife menacingly.

"Got it!" Leo squeaked and then blushed wildly. But, hey, he'd been faced with creepy old ladies, forced to fight to the death, and held at knife point! He could squeak if he wanted too.

"Well, Leo," Percy cut in. "Long story short... the Greek gods are real."

Leo went into a moment of shock, but one thought raised into his cloudy mind, 'Not just Greek gods.'

 _He got an image of a man with an ugly face and a scruffy bread, his hands constantly fiddling with things like Leo's..._

 _Another image floated into his brain of his old babysitter, Tia Callida, and he shivered slightly as he roughly pushed the thought away..._

 _A group of kids standing beside each other, a blonde, a curly haired girl, and a burly teenage male..._

 _An older version of Percy wearing Praetors robes..._

 _An African American boy with long black hair and a curved sword, standing alongside a girl with carmel colored and red streaked locks, a white staff in her grasp..._

"You okay, man? You're kinda spacing out." Percy waved a hand in front of his face to bring him back to earth.

Leo jolted back. "Yeah, I'm fine. So, the Greek gods are real; we're all demigods, which if I remember right means we're half god, half mortal; and a bunch of mythological monsters, who aren't so mythological, chase after us. Got it!"

Annabeth looked at him suspiciously. "You're taking this awfully well."

"Makes more sense than the rest of my life. So, Anteaus mentioned Percy being the son of the sea god. Judging from her eyes and that analyzing look to her, I'm guessing... the goddess of wisdom and battle strategy." The blonde looked slightly suprised at his wild guess being correct. "And you," he turned to Rachel, "Apollo? I'm really not sure, but he's the god of the arts and you have paint splatters on your jeans."

"Actually," Rachel countered, "I'm a clear sighted mortal. Most mortals can't see through the mist, a veil separating the mortal world from the godly world, but I'm an exception. There are more people like me, but I'm guessing that they're rare."

Percy nodded. "But the other two you got right. How'd you know about Annabeth?"

"I'm good at solving puzzles. She analyzes everything like a daughter of battle strategy would. Her mother has legendary gray eyes and it would make sense if her children had the same color." Leo didn't know why he didn't just say the names, but a little itch in his head told him not too and that time with Apollo had been a slip up.

Annabeth nodded approvingly.

They set up camp in the dark corridor and Leo watched while Annabeth fiddled with a stone and continued to strike it, only to get a hand full of sparks in return. She sighed in frustration.

"Let me try," Leo offered and took the stone from her. He got the fire started in less than thirty seconds and glanced up as the group gave him incredulous looks. The fire user understood; hardly anyone could start a fire so easily. "Fire's my... speciality," he answered, monotonously. "Night."

Leo faced the wall and tried to sleep. He thought he heard an argument and his name thrown into the mix, but by then, he was passed out cold.

* * *

"So what do you think of Leo?" Percy asked Annabeth.

She shrugged. "I'm not entirely ready to trust him yet, but he seems nice enough."

"I don't know what's wrong with me!" Percy exclaimed. "When I'm around him, I just feel this... need to protect him, like I've known him and we're best friends. It's like I can trust him, even if I've only known him for less than a few hours- at least in the Labyrinth."

The son of the sea thought that his friend would call him crazy and slug him in the arm to snap him out of it, but he was in for a suprise when she nodded in understanding. "I know, I've been getting it too... but mine's a little different. When I first saw him, I got this vision of a teenager that looked a lot like him- like he was an older version- sitting at a work table and I was right beside him. We were working on blueprints of this glorious ship, and we were talking. I remember we mentioned the ship a lot, our families a little, and I mentioned you at some point but it all went by so fast. It was like we were best friends."

Percy felt a twinge of envy, but he brushed it off. Why should he be jealous of Annabeth's other friends or boy friends? It's not like they were dating!

"Well, do you think you could keep first watch? I could really use some rest."

"Of course." But, his friend had already fallen asleep, snoring slightly.

* * *

Percy stared into the darkness, listening intently for any shuffling or suspicious noise until... "No, no, no please!"

There was whimpering and a boy's voice, so that meant that it could only be Leo. Crawling over to their new companion, the ravenette saw that Leo's face was shining with sweat and he was tossing and turning, in the cold, harsh grasp of a nightmare.

"Leo! Leo, wake up!" Percy hissed, shaking the Latino, trying not to wake the girls. The tan male bolted into a sitting position, breathing heavily and crying slightly until he saw Percy staring at him with concern.

"Sorry, Percy," he mumbled. "Um, I can take watch if you want. I don't think I'll be getting back to sleep for a while."

"Funny," the elder told him, quietly, "because I won't be either until I figure out what the hell that was."

"It was nothing, Percy, just a nightmare. We all get those."

"I've had nightmares, Leo, and mine have never been that bad. I'm not gonna leave you alone until you tell me." Percy leaned against the wall and looked at Leo, intently, sending a clear message that he wouldn't be sleeping until he heard every detail.

Leo sighed and gave in. "Promise you won't tell anyone, not even Annabeth or Rachel?"

"Cross my heart," Percy replied.

"Okay... my mom died when I was eight years old and my aunt blamed me, so she shipped me into the foster care system. I'm not sure which would have been worse- my foster parents or my aunt. The first ones were nice at first until they got divorced. The dad took their birth daughter and the mom got me, but she went off the deep end after that. She became abusive and neglective, would leave me locked in my room for months, only giving me enough food and water to stay alive. She stabbed in the chest and the hospital barely saved me.

"The second ones fought a lot, and I was often let in a broom cupboard, afraid to come out. Sometimes I'd skip school because I didn't want to get past them. No matter how many social services visits there were, they could never prove neglect or child endangerment because they were too good at hiding. My foster dad killed his wife and threw me into a pool because I'd never got a chance to learn how to swim when I was younger, so he hoped that I'd drowned. Another thirty seconds and I would've been dead.

"The third one... it was horrible. Some of my foster siblings were killed in that house and if the neighbors hadn't called the police, I would've been next and who knows how long it would have taken for them to kill every one of their foster children. And I'm not even gonna talk about my other three foster homes; those will surely give you nightmares, if what I've already said doesn't."

Leo looked up, ashamed of the tears in his eyes, and saw Percy Jackson, who had almost seen everything in the past couple of years, gaping like a fish. (Hey, isn't he a son of the sea god? Leo mentally snorted but was too sad to laugh aloud and share his joke).

"Wow," Percy muttered, "and I thought I had a bad life."

"I'm sorry, Percy, I shouldn't be pushing all my problems off on you."

"No, I'm glad you told me," Percy reassured him. "It makes trusting an almost stranger a lot easier."

Leo laughed.

Percy hesitated. "Hey, Leo? You don't have to answer... but how did you kidnapped?"

"Well, I was running away from home and hiding in the sewers from social services. I ran into some monsters and they dragged me to that arena." Leo, selectively, editing out the part about the old ladies; he didn't want to creep Percy out anymore.

"Why do you run away all the time? Why don't you just report the abuse?"

Leo laughed bitterly. "Who was gonna believe a ten year old kid over an adult? Besides, I've always run. Running is a way to stay ahead of the sadness."

"Leo," Percy said, sternly, having no idea why he was doing this. He stared at Leo Valdez until the boy was forced to meet his eyes. "I swear that when we get back to camp, I'm gonna give you a reason to stick around this time. You won't feel the need to run this time around."

He thought he heard Leo snort, but it was true and he would prove that to Leo, his new friend.

"Is this your fifth or sixth foster home?" Percy asked, remembering their conversation and Leo's hints.

"Sixth if you don't count the orphanage and the one that kept me for a day before sending me back because I was too much for them. After all, who wants a traumatized, ADHD, and dyslexic freak who likes fire?" Leo spat.

"Hey, I used to think that way too," Percy blurted and cursed himself. Why couldn't he keep his trap shut? Might as well tell him. "My mom loved me and still does but she would send me to boarding schools because of the monsters and such, to keep me safe. I didn't know that back then; I thought she was trying to get rid of me. Combine that with my Dad leaving and the bullying I recieved because I was ADHD, dyslexic, and got expelled from every school I go to, you get an insecure kid."

Leo was silent for a minute. "Thanks for the talk, Percy, but you should really get some sleep. I won't be going back to sleep for a while with the nightmare and my insomnia, so I might as well take watch."

The ravenette nodded and promptly passed out on the ground.

* * *

He was awoken by someone shaking him and that didn't help any as the ground below them was quaking like the strongest tremor Earth had ever seen was passing through the ground. The person shaking him was saying something and Percy struggled to hear them as some of the ceiling fell and he worried that it would collapse right on top of them, although that was irrational because they were underground.

"Earthquake!"

* * *

 _I've decided to do something new. I will be posting a trivia question about PJO, HOO, or the Kane Chronicles after every chapter unless I forget, which hopefully won't happened to often. If you are the first one to get it right, you can request a character from the books and I will try to fit them into my story. Read and Review!_

 **What was Hazel Levesque's middle name in the Heroes of Olympus?**


	4. Son of Hephaestus and Flashes

_I am sorry for the long awaited update._

 _Also, a reviewer pointed out that Leo is really OOC and I'm sorry about that. I'm trying to write him more IC, but seeing as I have almost no sense of humor, it's hard to write such a humorous character. I have a plan to explain why Leo has been so OOC since the whole arena thing, but that probably won't come in until after the Battle of the Labyrinth._

 _Thanks to all that reviewed, followed, faved, and read this story! It's greatly appreciated._

 ** _Disclaimer: I don't own PJO._**

* * *

"Earthquake!"

"What?!" Leo leapt to his feet and after checking for his backpack, he dashed after the trio that were skidding down the halls. For a few minutes, he didn't even realize what they were running from until he discovered that the floor was indeed shaking.

His first thought: well, damn, it wasn't a dream after all.

His second thought was more appropriate: we're all gonna die!

"This way!" Rachel yelled as the quartet bolted around corners and down halls, as if the red head had the layout of the maze drawn out in her brain.

"Why should we trust you?" Annabeth screamed, angrily. "You led us into a death trap!

"It was the way you had to go and so is this!" Rachel shouted. "Come on!"

Leo wasn't sure why he trusted these kids he'd met what couldn't be more than a few hours ago, but to hell with it. He was better off with these dagger wielding demigods than the monsters that had tried to kill him, after all.

"We're almost there!" Rachel informed.

Leo couldn't help himself. Despite the dire situation, he gasped, "Where are we goi-"

He cut himself off abruptly as he nearly ran straight into a set of double doors with a huge triangle on it, glowing blue.

"Oh gods," Annabeth breathed, "Daudeleus's workshop."

"Daudeleus?" Leo searched his mind for those Mythology books he'd studied with his friend, Hollie, earlier that year. "The creator of the Labyrinth? Shouldn't he be dead?'

"He's been cheating death since ancient times," the blonde explained.

Percy moved forward and stepped forward to push open the doors, but as if sensing his presence, they opened like those of an elevator.

Leo whistled under his breath. "For a two thousand year old maze, it sure is caught up with the times."

As they stepped in, Leo's jaw dropped. Easles holding blueprints of amazing inventions were sprawled across the room and about half as many inventions were completely built or half built all over tables and the floor. Workbenches held tools of varying sizes and wires of all different colors had been thrown carelessly across the room.

Leo Valdez was in heaven. Or Elysium, depending on the way you look at it.

"Oh my God," he whispered in awe.

"Gods," Annabeth corrected.

"What is it?" Percy questioned. Leo and Annabeth turned to stare at him like he'd lost his mind.

"You are in the greatest inventor of all time's workshop and you ask what we're in awe about?" Annabeth demanded.

Leo's response was more Percy's language. "This is awesome!"

He started rushing around, inspecting all of the inventions and blueprints while the others watched on in amusement.

"Hmm..." Leo said as he focused his attention on one particular invention, a huge bronze chair, and he knelt down to study the cord that was left unplugged beside an outlet. "What is this for?"

Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at Percy, who was staring out the window.

"Where are we?"

"Colorado Springs," a new voice answered, "Garden of the Gods."

Leo spun around so fast, his curls flew into his mouth and he had to spit them out.

A man in his twenties or thirties stood on the staircase, his skin so tan it was almost bronze, like Annabeth's dagger or Percy's sword. His hair was black with a few gray streaks in it and his eyes were this strange hollow black, like Tartarus.

Leo shook his head. He'd never seen Tartarus, so how would he know what it looked like? Yet, he could almost see two people dangling over an abyss that was so far down, it seemed endless.

The boy flinched as a migrane almost as painful as that odd sting on his stomach hit him full force. A voice in the back of his mind whispered, ' _Don't try to remember. The memories will come naturally, but forcing them just makes it all more painful.'_

Leo shook his head again. That wasn't his voice. He needed sleep and by the looks of it, a lot of it.

When his eyes refocused and the far away image of the pit, he saw the man staring at him, weirdly.

"You shouldn't be here," the man said. "Whoever is responsible for this should know that the Fates don't like intervention."

Before he could explain what that meant, Annabeth exploded, "YOU! What have you down with Daedulus?!"

The man frowned like he was stuck in a train of bad memories. "Trust me, you don't want to meet him."

"Look, Mr. Traitor," Annabeth hissed, "I did not fight a dragon woman, a three bodied man, and a Psychotic Sphinx to see you! Now. Where. Is. DAUDELEUS?!"

The man chuckled, quietly, and it reminded Leo of all the bullies he'd faced when they would pretend to be kind before slamming their fist into his nose. He descended the stairs and scanned their faces, his confused and somewhat fearful gaze lingering on Leo unnervingly long.

"You think I'm an agent for Kronos," the man said. "That I work for Luke."

"Well, duh," Annabeth growled.

"You are an intelligent girl." Leo had a feeling that this was an extreme understatement. "But you are wrong. I work only for myself."

"Luke mentioned you." Percy spoke up. "Geryon knew you too. You've been to his ranch."

For as long as Leo could remember, he'd loved solving problems. He could never sit through tests, but he always passed them because finding solutions was his fortè. He'd always find ways to escape people from bullies to social services to foster homes by using his wit. He was clever, but he couldn't figure out what they were talking about or why this Daudeleus guy was so important. It was driving him crazy.

"The view changes from day to day," the man murmured. "Yesterday, it was a skyscraper, overlooking Manhattan. The day before, a beautiful view of Lake Michigan. But it keeps coming back to the Garden of the Gods. I think that the Labyrinth likes it here. Fitting name actually."

"You've been here before," Percy guessed.

"Oh, yes."

"That's an illusion out there? A projection or something?" Percy asked.

"No," Rachel whispered. "We're really in Colorado."

How is that possible? Leo thought. There is no way I can get from Texas to Colorado in less than a day.

Then again, a small voice in the back of his mind said, you also shouldn't be able to shoot fire or fight monsters, but you did that didn't you?

Oh, that's where his conscious went off to. He'd been wondering where it'd disappeared to.

"You have clear vision, don't you?" The man said. "You remind me of another girl I once knew. A princess that came to grief."

His eyes looked glazed over like he had literally flashed back to that time and wasn't just thinking on memories. Leo could relate to that.

Leo's eyes flickered over to one particular blue print of an automation that he'd been studying before the man had appeared.

Oh God... s.

A few of the words starting shifting around and at first, he thought it was his dyslexia acting up but it wasn't.

Magic

Fifth

Cheat Death

Something clicked in Leo's brain.

"Enough games," Percy snapped. "What have you done with Daudeleus?"

"My boy, you need to take lessons from your friends on seeing clearly. I am Daedulus."

"You can't be Daedulus because you're an automation!" Leo burst out and the entire room turned to stare at him quizzically. "Can't you feel it? The mechanics?"

Blank looks.

Annabeth finally said, "What?"

"I don't know how to explain it... kind of like a buzzing in my ears I guess," Leo stammered, frowning when he realized that he didn't get his point across judging by their confused looks.

"Good eyes, son of Hephaestus," Daedulus smirked. "You are more powerful than your numerous half siblings that I have met."

Before Leo could even open his mouth to voice his question, Daedulus turned away to face the others.

"I had a dream," Percy mumbled before his eyes widened almost comically. "You... You made a new body!"

"Percy," Annabeth said, voice a little shaky. "That isn't possible. That can't be an automation."

"Annabeth, when I woke up this morning, I didn't think that the Greek gods could be real or that I could travel from Texas to Colorado in a few hours. But, I did both of those things and more, " Leo pointed out. "It's very possible."

"It can't be possible, though! It's like- it's like... flying! It isn't possible!"

The flash hit him like a frying pan to the face and Leo flinched. When he opened his eyes, he was somewhere else.

 _A boy with blonde hair was soaring through the sky, winds forming physical tendrils around him. He was shooting lightning from his fingers at the army of monsters below him._

 _Leo saw the cannonball before he did._

 _"Jason!" The word was ripped from his throat and the blonde turned to him just before the green fiery cannonball collided with his side. Leo clenched his hands over his ears but the CRACK! of this Jason fellow could be heard through his hands, along with a girl's heartbroken scream..._

Leo jolted back to the present in time to hear Daudeleus ask, "Do you know what Quintus means my dear?"

"The fifth in Latin, but-"

"This is my fifth body." He clicked open a panel on his arm around showed off the working inside.

"That's cool," Rachel mumbled.

"That's creepy," Percy disagreed.

"I've seen weirder things," Leo said. "Really good workmanship though."

"You found a way to transfer your animus into a machine. That's not... normal," Annabeth whispered.

"Oh, I assure you, my dear, it is still me. I am still very much Daedulus. Our mother, Athena, makes sure I never forget that." The man scowled and tugged on his collar to reveal a bird shaped burn mark.

"A murderer's brand."

Leo reached his backpack and gripped the dagger from the arena at the word murderer.

"For your nephew, Perdix," Percy clarified, "the boy you pushed off the tower."

Daedulus clenched his fists. "I did not push him. I simply-"

"Made him lose his balance. Let him die."

Daedulus wouldn't meet their eyes, just keeping them trained on the view outside the window. "I regret what I did, Percy. I was angry and bitter... But I cannot take it back and Athena never let's me forget. As Perdix died, she turned him into a small bird- a partridge. She branded the bird shaped burn on my neck as a reminder. No matter what body I take, the mark reappears on my skin."

Rachel closed her eyes, as if she were imagining the story.

"You really are Daedulus" Percy said, quietly. "But why come to camp? Why spy on us?"

"Too see if your camp was worth saving. Luke had given me one story, but I perfer to come to my own conclusions."

"So you have talked to Luke."

"Oh yes, many times, he can be persuasive."

Leo thought back on the guy from the arena. He supposed the guy could be persuasive if he had so many humans on his side, but that didn't mean he wasn't still creepy.

"Now, you've seen camp!" Annabeth exclaimed, excitedly. "You know we need your help. You can't let Luke through the maze!"

"The maze is no longer mine to control, Annabeth. I created it, yes. In fact, it is tied to my life force. But I have allowed it to live and grow on its own. That is the price I paid for privacy," Daedulus explained, bitterly.

"Privacy from what?" Rachel asked, more curiously than anything else.

"The gods. And death. I have been alive for two millenia, hiding from death."

"How can you hide from Hades?" Percy demanded. "He has the furies."

"They don't know everything. Or see everything," Daedulus replied. "You have encountered them, Percy. You know this to be true. A clever man can hide for so long and I have buried myself deep. Only my greatest enemy has kept after me and even him I have thwarted."

"You mean Minos."

Another headache hit Leo and he could almost see a man in golden pajamas turning a very familiar girl with choppy brown hair into solid gold.

Piper.

The name came to his mind, but the harder he tried to retrieve the memory of her, the more painful his migrane became.

Daedulus nodded. "He hunts for me relentlessly. Now that he is a judge of the dead, he would like nothing more than for me to stand before him so that he can punish me for my crimes. After the daughters of Coculas killed him, his ghost began to haunt me in my dreams. He promised he would hunt me down. I did the only thing I could. I retreated from the world completely. I descended into my labyrinth. I decided that this would be my ultimate accomplishment; I would cheat death. "

"And you did," Annabeth breathed. "For two thousand years."

"For the record," Leo advised, "nothing good comes from cheating death you know. Trust me on that one."

Daedulus attempted a smile. "You are very wise, son of Hephaestus. Knowing your fate, I feel very sorry for you, but at least your sacrifice will not be in vain."

"What are you talking about? You're an inventor, not an oracle. How do you know all of this?" Leo interrogated.

Daedulus smiled a watery grin. "I have many connections, young hero. Many of them can see the future, and they have warned me of you. It's funny that you're lecturing me on cheating death. Hopefully, Hades will allow you to slip under the radar, seeing as you will save his children from certain death many times in the years to come."

Before the three demigods could question the inventor, a loud bark echoed from the corridor. Leo whipped out his dagger, ready for a monster attack, but instead, the giant dog that had saved them earlier bounded in, licking Daedulus's face.

"There's my old friend!" The man cheered as he ran his hand through the dog's fur. "My only companion all these long, lonely years."

"You let her save me," Percy realized, thankfully. "The whistle actually worked."

"Of course it did, Percy," Daudeleus responded. "You have a good heart. And I knew Mrs. O'Leary liked you. Perhaps, I-I felt guilty as well."

Leo's heart sunk like a stone.

"Guilty about what?" Percy demanded.

"That you're quest would be in vain."

"What?" Annabeth shrieked. "But... you can still help us! You have to! Give us Adriane's string so Luke can't get it!"

"The string... I-I told Luke that the eyes of a clear sighted mortal are the best guide. But he did not trust me. He was so focused on the idea of a magic item. And the string works. Not as well as your mortal friend here, but good enough. Good enough."

"Where is the string?!" Annabeth commanded.

"With Luke. I'm sorry, my dear, but you are several hours too late, " Daedulus said, softly.

Leo glanced at his new friend's faces and felt anger fuel him when he saw the defeat, the worry, the fear in their eyes. They couldn't save their home. He was reminded of the Civil War all over again.

Leo started. What civil war? Where had that come from?

He couldn't focus on that right now. At the moment, a solution- a plan- was the only thing on his mind.

"Why would you give them the string?" He demanded. "They make freaking kids fight to the death! And for what? Passage? Power? What the hell what were you thinking?!"

"Kronos promised me freedom," Daedulus choked. "Once the Titans win, he will set me over the Underworld. I will reclaim my son, Icarsus. I will make things right with Perdix. I will cast Minos's soul into Tartarus and never be bothered again!"

"That's your brilliant idea?" Annabeth ordered. "You're going to allow Luke to attack camp, kill hundreds of demugods, and then attack Olympus?! You're going to allow him to bring the whole world down just so you can get what you want?"

"Your cause is doomed, my dear. The offer was simply too sweet to refuse."

Annabeth yelled as she tipped an easle over. Blueprints scattered across the floor.

"I... I used to respect you. You built amazing things, solved problems... Now, I don't even know what you are. Children of Athena are meant to be wise, not just clever. Maybe you are just a machine. You should've died two thousand years ago."

No one spoke, the only sound was Annabeth sniffling as she tried to keep from crying.

Leo broke the silence. "We should leave. You said Luke was trying to get through the Labyrinth. Maybe we can get back to camp and seal the entrance, so Luke can't get there?" He suggested.

Daedulus shrugged. "It might work, it might not, the most it can probably do is bide you time."

"Well, in my opinion, having a plan that may not work is better than not having a plan at all, right? But we have to leave now if we've even got a shot at helping ca-"

"Someone's coming!" Rachel suddenly warned. They all spun around, drawing weapons (Rachel wieled a blue plastic hairbrush like a knife). Mrs. O'Leary crouched defensively.

The doors of the workshop slid open and boy, scrawny, tired, and unhealthily thin, was shoved through. His hair was pitch black and his obsidian eyes were ringed with dark circles. He wore all black and his hands were bound in front of him. The boy couldn't have been older than Leo himself.

The image was so brief Leo thought he imagined it, but deep down, he knew he hadn't. It was an image of a boy that was identical to this prisoner except for the fact that he was a good foot taller, a few years older, and his haunted eyes that looked like shattered glass.

Nico. That was his name. Leo was positive.

Behind him, a stereotypical cheerleader, two monsters, and a ghost followed into the room.

The ghost fixed his gaze on Daedalus. He smiled a cold smile. "There you are, my old friend."

Daedalus clenched his jaw. He looked at the cheerleader. "What is the meaning of this?"

"Luke sends his compliments," she replied with a grin. Leo backed up when he saw her razor sharp teeth. "He thought you might like to see your old employer, Minos."

"This was not part of our agreement," Daedalus hissed.

"No indeed," the cheerleader said in a bored tone. "But we already have what we want from you, and we have, ah, other agreements to honor. Minos required something else from us, in order to turn over this fine young demigod." She ran a finger under the boy's chin. "He'll be quite useful. And all Minos asked in return was your head, old man."

Daedalus paled. "Treachery."

"Get used to it."

"Nico," Percy interjected. "Are you okay?"

The boy nodded. "I-I'm sorry, Percy. Minos told me you were in danger. He convinced me to go back into the maze."

"You were trying to help us?"

"I was tricked! He tricked all of us."

Percy shot a glare at the cheerleader. "Where's Luke? Why isn't he here?"

The cheerleader smiled. "He's... busy. He is preparing for the assault. But don't worry, we have more friends on the way. And in the meantime, I think I'll have a wonderful snack!"

Leo watched, horrified, as her hands morphed into claws. Her legs shifted - one into bronze, and the other a... donkey leg?

Rachel whispered something Leo couldn't hear, and Percy nodded.

Then he and Annabeth charged at the former-cheerleader.

The giants with them stepped forward to grab Daedalus, but the dog - Mrs. O'Leary - jumped to defend her master. The boy, Nico, was shoved to the side as the ghost cheered for the giants fighting Mrs. O'Leary.

Leo decided to try and be helpful, so he raced over to the boy, Nico, and began to pick the lock on his chains.

"Who are you?" Nico demanded.

The chains clicked and Nico was free.

"Leo Valdez, but now is not the time for introductions!" Leo yelled, yanking Nico out of the way out of a dagger that had been hurtling towards them. Leo smirked when it burrowed itself in one of the monsters bellies, turning it to nothing but dust.

He spotted Rachel over by a collection of mechanical wings hanging off the walls. She was currently struggling to connect them to her, and Leo saw her plan.

"Nice plan!" He shouted over the noise of the battle as he clasped the wings latches until they were firmly connected to Rachel's back. "Help Nico!"

Leo sprinted over to the heart of the battle, twirling his dagger in his hand. He tried to stab the cheerleader in the chest, but she dodged with a taunting giggle. Spinning around, he slashed at a snake woman, but didn't even make a dent in her armor.

' _Come on, Valdez!'_ A voice that sounded like a coach's shouted in his mind. ' _You've defeated tougher monsters than these before lunch!'_

'Since when?' He thought, but even as he thought it, he knew it was true. He had to do this.

Like he was on autopilot, he yanked the hammer out of his bag and clobbered the snake woman on the head. She'd apparently believed that he wasn't good at fighting, which should've been correct but wasn't, so he took her by suprise. She fell to the ground, out cold.

He swung around and smacked the cheerleader across the face with a hammer before she could bite him. A fang and a trail of blood flew from her lips and while she was trying to regain her senses, Leo stabbed her just above the collar bone. She dissolved.

Meanwhile, the ghost was cackling insanely and the final snake woman was towering over a defenseless and dazed Percy, raising a sword.

They were clear on the other side of the workshop.

Leo knew he would never get there in time but he surged forward. Annabeth beat him to it and he sighed in relief as she stabbed the monster and Percy was out of harm's way.

"To me!" Minos cried. "Spirits of the dead!" He raised his hands and the air suddenly grew agitated.

"No!" Nico yelled. He stumbled to his feet.

"You do not control me, fool! All this time, I have been controlling you! A soul for a soul, yes, but not for your sister. It is I who will rise, as soon as I slay the inventor!"

Other ghostly figures shimmered into the air around Minos.

"I am the son of Hades," Nico insisted. "Be gone!"

"You have no power over me. I am the lord of spirits! The ghost king!"

"No," Nico said, pulling out a sword made of a strange, black metal. "I am."

He stabbed the sword into the ground as if it were a toothpick going through butter.

"Never!" Minos's form began to ripple. "I will not -"

Leo was knocked off his feet as the ground rumbled and the windows burst. A blast of fresh air blew into the workshop, and Minos and the ghosts disappeared into a large crack that appeared in the ground.

That is extremely creepy, Leo thought as Nico shakily stood up.

Leo registered the sound of pounding in the tunnels - more monsters were on the way.

"We have to help Daedalus!" Percy insisted.

"No time," Rachel called back. She and Nico both had wings attached to their backs and she was practically throwing them at Leo, percy, and Annabeth.

In a few seconds, the five of them had metal wings.

"Daedalus!" Percy yelled. "Come on!"

Leo glanced at the inventor. He was cut everywhere - but instead of blood, golden oil leaked out.

"I won't leave Mrs. O'Leary! Go!"

Leo turned and looked out the window.

They were really high up.

"None of us know how to fly!" Nico argued.

"Great time to find out," Percy said.

And together, the five demigods leaped out the window.

* * *

 _I'm sorry if the story isn't completely accurate compared to the battle of the Labyrinth. I have not read it in forever!_

 _To explain a few things._

 _1\. I always thought Leo and Annabeth were more alike than anyone thought, especially when it comes to problem solving, so you will be seeing a lot of parallels between the two._

 _2\. All demigods have an instinct to defeat monsters I believe and technically, what with the whole new fate thing, Leo does have experience even if he doesn't realize it. That's to explain how he defeated the monsters so quickly in this story._

 _3\. The flashes are hints of memories that he will begin to get later on, but as the story continues, the memories will become longer and more detailed instead of just flashes and brief images._

 _Finally, I am trying this new trivia thing. No one did it last chapter so I'm gonna try it again. Basically, I give you all a trivia question and the first one to answer it correctly gets a character of their choice in the story._

 ** _Who is the greek god of Truth?_**


	5. Mount Othrys and Fire Users

_This does quote The Battle of the Labyrinth and the Lost Hero a lot, so I don't own own quotes. Also, this chapter is primarily Lazuli Quetzal's, so I give most of the credit to her, but any vision except for the Lost Hero excerpt are mine, thank you._

 _The last question was answered correctly, but I will be waiting until they respond to my PM to mention him in the offers note. Now, onto the reviews. I'll be going over the reviews for each chapter starting with the last one, hut I am grateful for all those that have reviewed, faved, or followed. Thanks!_

 _Matt: you asked a very good question, and I actually have two answers. One, people are only aware of Leo's original fate and no one can really tell how Leo coming to camp early will affect that. Also, Leo coming early does not only effect his fate, but also the Fates of those around him._

 _a12333: Thank you so much!_

 _Mystery0028: Nice try and I actually thought that was the answer as well until I looked it up. And don't worry, I'll be doing a trivia question every chapter._

 ** _Disclaimer: I don't own PJO!_**

* * *

There are few things more terrifying than jumping out a burning building knowing your life depends on your ability to fly.

Leo rocketed towards the ground, headfirst. He tried to focus through his panicked mind. In theory, he knew these wings would enable him to fly, but he would rather test it first.

"Spread your arms! Keep them extended!" Annabeth yelled.

Leo obeyed, and the wings caught wind. His fall slowed. Once he wasn't panicking, he realized how awesome the view was.

Leo grinned wildly. Flying was far better in real life than in a dream.

He gasped when the vision smacked him in the face.

 _A boy was holding him up and the ground was hundred of feet below them, but Leo wasn't worried. He trusted this boy, even if he couldn't figure out why he would put his life in the hands of a stranger._

 _But he's not a stranger,_ a voice in the back of his head said, and Leo shook his head to clear it. No more creepy visions until after he landed.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Percy swooping and yelling in joy. The others spiraled through the sky, equally ecstatic.

Then he saw a column of smoke. Leo's eyes moved down slightly and he spotted the windows of Daedalus's workshop. His smile faded.

Leo wanted to fly back and check on him, but the sound of metal against metal startled him. He glanced back. The wings were not perfect - already, he was shedding metal feathers.

"Land! These wings won't last forever!" He called out frantically.

"How long?" Rachel asked.

"I don't want to find out!" Annabeth said.

Leo angled the wings and followed Annabeth, who led the five of them across a valley, over a road, and down to the terrace of the visitor center.

Leo tumbled down onto the concrete and reluctantly removed the wings. Before stuffing it in the trash can, he carefully studied the design. He knew he wanted to recreate it someday.

Leo followed the other demigods down the sidewalk, where Percy dug out a two quarters to use a tourist binocular.

"No smoke," Percy announced. "No windows - it's gone."

"The workshop moved," Annabeth guessed. "There's no telling where."

"What do we do now? How do we get back in the maze?"

Annabeth gazed at the summit of Pikes Peak. Her eyes were sad. "Maybe we can't. If Daedalus died... He said his life force was tied to the Labyrinth. The whole thing might've been destroyed. Maybe... Maybe that'll stop Luke's invasion."

Percy clenched his fist. He looked worried.

"No," Nico said, making Leo jump. "He isn't dead."

"How do you know?" Leo asked, skeptically.

"I know when people die," Nico said certainly. "It's this feeling I get, like a buzzing in my ears."

Leo snorted. "Who are you, the God of Death?"

"He's my father," Nico shot back.

Leo shut up.

"What about Tyson and Grover?" Percy asked, his voice concerned.

"That's harder. They're not humans or half-bloods. They don't have mortal souls."

"Who are they?" Leo asked.

Percy stared at the mountains, looking worried. "Friends."

"We have to get into town," Annabeth took charge. "Our chances will be better of finding an entrance to the Labyrinth. We have to make it back to camp before Luke and his army."

"We could just take a plane," Rachel suggested.

"No!" Percy said. "I - I don't fly."

"You just did," Rachel pointed out.

"That was low flying, and even that's risky, Flying up really high - that's Zeus's territory. I can't do it."

Leo wondered what Percy did to make the Lord of the Sky angry.

' _Son of Poseidon,'_ a voice in his head reminded him. This voice sounded like his conscious and it was definitely his voice, but older and deeper, almost like he was a few years older than he was. ' _It's risky, even if he hadn't made Zeus mad.'_

"Besides," Percy continued. "We don't have time for a flight. The Labyrinth is the quickest way back."

"So we need a car to take us into the city," Annabeth said.

Rachel looked into the parking lot and grimaced. "I'll take care of it."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "How?"

"Just... Trust me."

Annabeth looked about to protest, but nodded. "Okay, I'm going to buy a prism in the gift shop, try to make a rainbow, and send an Iris-message to camp."

"I'll go with you," Nico said. "I'm hungry."

"Me too," Leo said.

"I'll stick with Rachel, then," Percy said. "Meet you guys in the parking lot."

Leo didn't miss the way Rachel frowned, or the way Annabeth clenched her fists so tightly they turned white.

Rachel walked off, Percy behind her. Leo turned and followed Annabeth and Nico to the gift shop.

"So, what's an Iris message?" Leo asked conversationally.

Nico shot him a confused look. "Don't you know...?"

"Dude, I'm new at this whole demigod thing. Help a bro out?"

"Iris is the goddess of the rainbow, the messenger for the gods," Nico replied.

"Isn't that Herman? Or Hermes?"

"Hermes is usually too busy, unless it's super important," Annabeth said, as if she'd met him herself. "And Iris is easier to send for. Wait and see."

They walked into the gift shop. The cashier, who was reading a novel, lifted an eyebrow. "You kids have any parents?"

"Tired," Annabeth lied smoothly. "We went hiking. They're letting us buy a souvenir."

The cashier went back to the novel.

"Buy a snack or something," Annabeth said, handing them two crumpled five-dollar bills from her backpack.

Annabeth walked off to grab a prism. Nico and Leo went and got a bag of chips each from the vending machine.

Once Annabeth bought the prism, they went outside. Nico held the prism up so it made a rainbow on the ground, and Annabeth pulled out a solid gold coin.

She tossed it into the rainbow, and Leo gasped as it disappeared.

"O Iris, goddess of the rainbow, accept my offering," Annabeth said. "Show me Chiron, at Camp Half-Blood."

The rainbow shimmered, and Leo watched, fascinated as a face appeared. A middle-aged man was sitting at a table, looking worried.

"Chiron!" Annabeth said, her voice happy.

He looked up. "Annabeth! Where are you, are you okay?" The man looked at Nico and Leo, slightly confused. "Why...?"

"We're safe," Annabeth said. "Chiron, meet Leo. We found him in the Labyrinth. Leo, this is my mentor, Chiron."

Leo waved awkwardly.

"We also found Nico," Annabeth said, "He, um, helped us out a few times."

Chiron nodded. "Do you have the string?"

Annabeth gulped and didn't meet Chiron's eyes. "No. We... We were too late. Quintus -"

"Quintus?" Chiron said, looking worried.

"He's actually Daedalus in disguise. Long story. Luke got to him first, and..." Annabeth trailed off.

Chiron got the message. "I will warn the campers."

"Chiron, I'm so sorry -"

"Do not fret, Annabeth," he said. "Come back safely. Good luck."

Chiron set down his cards and waved his hands. The image disappeared.

"Let's go," Annabeth said.

They met up with Rachel and Percy in the parking lot.

"I talked to Chiron," Annabeth said. "They're doing their best to prepare for battle, but he still wants us back. They're going to need every hero they can get. Did we find a ride?"

"The driver's ready when we are," Rachel replied. "Come on."

She led them to a fancy Lexus and walked right in. Leo noticed a man in a suit arguing with a hiker-guy. He wondered what that was about.

Leo settled into the car and looked about in wonder. The seats were leather, and the chairs had those mini TV's built into the headrests. Even better, the mini fridge was stocked with water, soda, and snacks.

Percy and Leo raided the food.

"Where to, Miss Dare?" the driver asked.

"I'm not sure yet, Robert," she said. "We just need to drive through town and, uh, look around."

"Whatever you say, miss."

"Do you know this guy?" Percy asked Rachel.

"No."

"But he dropped everything to help you. Why?"

"Keep your eyes peeled and help me look," Rachel said, ignoring the question.

They drove around for about an hour, finding no entrances, when suddenly Rachel sat up.

"Get off the highway!"

"Miss?"

"I saw something, I think. Get off here."

The driver swerved and took the exit. Leo looked around, confused. There was nothing around but hills and farm buildings.

"What did you see?" Percy asked.

"Western Museum of Mining & Industry."

Leo looked out the window and stared at the museum - a rusty collection of drills, pumps, and old steam shovels. It looked pretty small, and Leo didn't see anything suggesting an entrance into a labyrinth.

Then again, he was running through a Texan sewer and ended up in Colorado, so anything was possible.

"There," Rachel pointed into a hole in the side of a hill. "An old mine entrance."

"A door to the Labyrinth?" Annabeth was skeptical. "How can you be sure?"

"Look at it!" Rachel gestured to the museum. "I mean... I can see it, okay?"

Leo wasn't sure how the whole mortal-navigating-the-maze worked, but Rachel had saved their lives, so he trusted her.

The car stopped. The five of them exited the car, but the driver looked Rachel in the eye.

"Are you sure you'll be all right, Miss Dare? I'd be happy to call your -"

"No!" Rachel panicked. "No, really. Thanks, Robert. But we're fine."

The car left. Leo pulled out the water bottle he nicked from the fridge and took a long gulp.

"Seriously, Leo?" Rachel said.

"I was thirsty," Leo protested, but he put the water bottle in his pocket.

The museum was close, so there was no one around as the five climbed up to the tunnel Rachel had seen.

Once there, Leo noticed the blue triangle - the Mark of Daedalus - engraved on the lock.

"That's small," Leo commented. "You must have 20/20 vision, Miss Dare."

"Don't call me that," Rachel muttered.

Percy touched the lock and the chains fell. He kicked down a few boards and walked into the Labyrinth. Leo looked up at the sky one last time before following them into the tunnel.

The first two hours were surprisingly uneventful. Rachel and Annabeth started up a conversation about architecture while Percy, Nico, and Leo lagged behind. They walked for a few hundred feet before Leo made an attempt at conversation.

"So," Leo said uncomfortably. "How long have you been doing this whole 'demigod' thing?"

"Three summers," Percy said.

"And you?" Leo turned to Nico.

Nico shifted uncomfortably. "About half a year, I guess."

"Are all of our lives this crazy?" Leo asked.

"Nah," Percy said. "I'm the first child of the Big Three in about seventy years. There's a whole prophecy and everything. All my friends kinda got roped into my adventures."

Leo noted how Percy didn't mention Nico being the son of Hades.

"Big Three," Leo mused. "Zeus, Poseidon, Hades?"

"You might not want to use names all the time," Nico warned. "Names have power."

"Okay, cool," Leo said casually. "Any other rules?"

"Don't get killed," Nico replied.

Leo was really not liking Nico's tone of voice.

Percy frowned too. "That's what you were after all along, huh? Trading Daedalus's soul for your sister's."

Nico wet his lips with his tongue. "Minos was right, in a way. Daedalus should die. Nobody should be able to avoid death that long. It's not natural."

Leo personally thought it was pretty cool, especially with that automaton body, but he didn't speak up. It was another fifty yards before any of the guys said anything.

"It hasn't been easy, you know. Having only the dead for company. Knowing that I'll never be accepted by the living. Only the dead respect me, and they only do that out of fear," Nico said bitterly.

"You could be accepted," Percy insisted. "You could have friends at camp."

Nico looked up. "Do you really believe that, Percy?"

Percy looked speechless. It was obvious he wanted to comfort Nico, but he knew that it was true.

Leo wondered what had happened to make Nico that way.

Suddenly, Percy tripped and landed into Rachel. Leo looked around. Ahead was the main path, but off to the side was a circular shaft carved from black volcanic rock.

Leo tilted his head. It smelled like cough drops.

"What is it?" Percy asked.

Rachel looked down the tunnel nervously.

"Is that the way?" Annabeth questioned.

"No. Not at all."

"Why are we stopping then?" Percy said.

"Listen," said Nico.

A cold wind drifted down the tunnel. The smell of cough drops grew stronger. Percy and Annabeth shivered, as if recalling a bad memory.

"Eucalyptus trees," Percy spoke. "Like in California."

"There's something evil down that tunnel," Rachel said. "Something very powerful."

"And the smell of death," Nico added.

Percy and Annabeth exchanged glances.

"Luke's entrance. The one to Mount Orthys - the Titans' palace."

"Would help if we knew where this mountain was," a voice spoke up and Leo whirled his head around, but no one was there. When he turned back, he was somewhere else entirely.

 _The cave was lit by firelight and the secnt of freshly cooked burgers filled the air. A blanket was wrapped around his shoulders and a burger sat on a paper plate before him. Across from him, a girl with choppy hair and the boy with blonde hair from his previous visions were seated, the girl wreathed in blankets._

 _The goat man was new. He wore an orange polo shirt and a cap was pulled low over his beady eyes. His face was set in a permanent scowl and he was eating a burger and a paper plate like it was a taco. The thing that frightened Leo the most were his goat legs._

 _'Maybe Aeolus can tell you that," the goat man continued. 'The Bay Area has a bad reputation for demigods. Old home of the Titans, Mount Othrys, sits over Mount Tam, where Atlas holds up the sky. I hope that's not the mountain you saw."_

 _The girl contemplated this. "I don't think so. This was inland."_

 _The boy frowned at the fire, like he was trying to remember something._

 _"Bad reputation … that doesn't seem right. The Bay Area …"_

 _"You think you've been there?" The girl asked._

 _"I …" He looked like he was almost on the edge of a breakthrough. Then the anguish came back into his eyes. "I don't know. Hedge, what happened to Mount Othrys?"_

 _The goat man took another bite of paper and burger. "Well, Kronos built a new palace there last summer. Big nasty place, was going to be the headquarters for his new kingdom and all. Weren't any battles there, though. Kronos marched on Manhattan, tried to take Olympus. If I remember right, he left some other Titans in charge of his palace, but after Kronos got defeated in Manhattan, the whole palace just crumbled on its own."_

 _"No," the boy said._

 _Everyone looked at him._

 _"What do you mean, 'No'?" Leo asked as if someone else was using his mouth to form these words._

 _"That's not what happened. I—" He tensed, looking toward the cave entrance. "Did you hear that?"_

The image faded and he was left staring at the quartet before him.

Percy's hand drifted to his pocket. "I have to check it out."

"No!"

"Luke could be right there," Percy insisted. "Or... Or Kronos. I have to find out what's going on."

"Then we'll all go."

"Too dangerous," Percy dismissed it. "If they got a hold of Nico, or Rachel for that matter, Kronos could use them. You stay here and guard them."

"Don't, Percy," Rachel said. "Don't go up there alone."

"I'll be quick," he assured her. "I won't do anything stupid."

Annabeth bit her lip, as if she were going to protest. Then she pulled out a baseball cap out of her pocket. "At least take this. And be careful."

Percy grabbed the cap and put it on. Leo watched, amazed, as he disappeared.

"Here goes nothing," Percy's voice said, and the group worried as the sound of his footsteps grew fainter and fainter.

* * *

Annabeth nervously paced as the minutes ticked by. She muttered something under her breath, and every few seconds she looked up and stared down the tunnel.

Leo took out the compass in his pocket and watched the needle spin. Annabeth jumped at the sound of his movement and glanced at the compass.

"You make that yourself?" Annabeth asked.

"Yeah," Leo said.

"Daedalus called you a son of Hephaestus," Annabeth mused.

"Have you met him? Hephaestus, I mean."

"Yeah," Annabeth said. "He's... interesting."

Leo got the feeling she didn't really like Hephaestus that much.

"He has other children, at camp," Annabeth continued, still glancing at the tunnel.

"Other children?" Leo asked.

"Yeah, Cabin Nine. The counselor is Beckendorf - Charles Beckendorf. He's nice. You'd like him."

Leo's head spun. He had brothers. Sisters. He had a whole family he never knew about.

"What is Hephaestus the god of again?"

" God of blacksmiths and fire."

Leo bit his tongue. God of fire. It felt like a sick joke, considering how his mom died.

"Do we get any special powers with that?" Leo asked casually.

"As far as I know, Hephaestus's children don't really get any powers. They're geniuses with inventions and technology, but I don't think they have any powers."

"None?" Leo asked, his heart sinking. He subconsciously rubbed his hands together.

"A long time ago, some children of Hephaestus had power over fire," Nico answered him. "But it's rare. And dangerous. The last time, Thomas Faynor started the Great Fire of London. Before that, Gertrud Albright accidentally burnt down three-quarters of Amsterdam."

Leo's hopes were shattered. He'd hoped he'd be accepted, but once again, he was the odd one out.

Annabeth stared at Nico. "Where'd you learn that?"

"I know a few children of Hephaestus," Nico added. "John Parker helped me with training a few times."

Annabeth frowned. "There's no 'John Parker' at camp."

"He died in 1822," Nico replied.

Leo remembered what Nico said, about only having the dead for company. "That's nice," he muttered.

They lapsed into an uncomfortable silence.

After a few minutes, Annabeth pulled out her bronze dagger. "That's it, I'm going after Percy."

Rachel stood up. "I'll go with you."

"Stay here," Annabeth insisted.

"We both know how Percy messes up things," Rachel shot back. "You'll need backup. Leo, Nico, you can stay -"

"No!" Nico protested. "If you go, I'll go. Percy saved my life - I owe him. I'm not just gonna let him die -"

"If Kronos catches you, he will use you," Annabeth said. "It's too risky. Same thing with you, Rachel. I'll go, I have the most experience."

"Experience means nothing against an army," Nico got to his feet. "Besides, it hasn't been that long - and Percy's not dead!"

"He could be in trouble!" Annabeth clenched her dagger.

"Percy has your invisibility cap," Nico said. "He'll be fine."

"You haven't known him for as long as I did," Annabeth sighed.

"Look," Leo began, "he defeated that one giant dude - Antaeus, right? And based on how well he did, he pulled stunts like this before, correct?"

"I... Yes." Annabeth said.

"He can take care of himself, then." Leo said.

Annabeth huffed and crossed her arms, but sat down. She clenched and unclenched her hands.

"Two minutes," she said. "Two more minutes, and then you can't stop me."

Annabeth appeared to be counting down. Nico kept looking at the tunnel and back. Rachel traced her fingers in the dirt.

Annabeth stood up again. "I'm going to go."

"Then we'll go with you," Rachel got to her feet.

"I already told you, it's too dangero-"

She was cut off by a rumbling sound and a blast of air coming from the tunnel.

"Percy!" Annabeth yelled. "I'm coming!"

She sprinted down the tunnel, the other three right at her heels.

They reached the end of the tunnel. A blast of cold air blew into Leo's face. The day was cloudy, and in the distance was a black marble fortress, built in an ancient Greek style. The four of them sprinted towards the fortress as fast as they could.

Leo panted as they reached the steps. He looked up and saw Luke from the arena, laughing as he swung around a wicked-looking scythe. His voice was cold - like the sound of metal against stone. Percy seemed to be stuck, straining to move.

"PERCY!" Rachel yelled, and threw a blue plastic hairbrush towards Luke.

"Ow!" Luke said, his voice lighter.

Percy stood up as fast as he could and ran out, tripping into Annabeth.

"Luke?" Annabeth called out, her eyes confused. "What -"

Percy grabbed her shirt and sprinted out of the fortress. The five of them had almost made it back to the Labyrinth when Luke's cold voice shouted in frustration.

"AFTER THEM!"

"No!" Nico yelled. He clapped his hands together, and a huge black rock erupted from the ground in front of the fortress. The columns collapsed and Leo thought he could hear the sounds of dogs whining.

Leo turned forward, where Percy touched a tiny scratch on the cliff wall that turned into a glowing blue triangle. The tunnel opened, and they ran in, the howls of Luke echoing throughout the mountains.

* * *

 _Read and Review please! It keeps me updating!_

 _Trivia question:_

 ** _Where was Hazel Levesque placed when she died the first time (_** _Elysium, Fields of Punishment, or Fields of Asphodel)_ ** _?_**

 _See you next time! Thanks for reading!_


	6. The Great God Pan and his Message

_sorry for the delay, but school kind of got in the way. Anyway, this chapter will probably be the last chapter that is basically taken from the book because the battle will be a little different when it's from Leo's point of view. Read and review!_

 ** _Trivia:_**

 _ALunerVampire- I'm definitely going to do Reyna at some point, and I'll look into how to fit Piper into the story._

 _Therandomguy42- I am going to do Reyna, but I'm not sure when, so keep your eye out for her._

 _ **Reviews** :_

 _A12333- thank you so much!_

 _Sam- I'm trying to explain this without giving too much away. Leo coming to camp early changes everyone's fate- from Percy to Calypso, so that's why it's called the Labyrinth of Fate. Certain people will live that should have died and different events will happen because Leo will prevent a few of those things from happening. I'm actually not sure on Leo's fate yet; I'm actually kind of just making it up as I go._

 _Thanks to everyone else that reviewed, faved, followed. It means a lot to me_

 _ **Disclaimer: I own nothing!**_

* * *

Leo frantically stumbled after his friends, anxious to run away from the evil in the tunnel. The group had been running for what seemed like hours. Finally, when Leo knew he couldn't take it anymore, they stopped.

"Can't... run," Rachel choked out, clutching her sides.

Leo collapsed on the ground, breathing hard. He had ran for his life before, but even the monster in the sewers was nothing compared to the evil roar of Luke.

His voice had seemed colder, heavier, somehow. Before, Luke was just a bad guy to him... now, he seemed different, something older than humanity.

Annabeth collapsed, her head between her knees. She had tears streaming down her face and heaved out loud, heartbroken sobs.

Percy and Nico sat down next to each other, their swords strewn on the ground. Percy was staring sadly at Annabeth, as if he didn't want to hurt her more, but knew he had to.

"That sucked," Nico muttered. Leo wholeheartedly agreed.

"You saved our lives," Percy said, staring at Nico with a pensive expression.

"Blame them for dragging me along," Nico gestured at the girls. "That's the only thing they could agree on. We needed to help you or you'd mess thins up."

"Nice that they trust me so much," Percy muttered as he flicked on his flashlight and shone it around.

Leo noticed stalactites hanging from the ceiling and absently wondered where they were.

"Nico," Percy began. "You kinda gave yourself away."

"What do you mean?"

"That wall of black stone? That was pretty impressive. If Kronos didn't know who you were before, he does now – a child of the Underworld."

"Big deal," Nice frowned as he spoke. But Leo could see the fear in his eyes.

Kronos, Leo thought. He tried to remember the myths. Kronos was a Titan, the main Titan.

Leo blinked.

 _I toppled the black throne of Kronos, and destroyed the Titan Krios with my own hands!_ A familiar voice spoke in his head.

Leo rubbed his eyes. The lack of sleep was really getting to him.

"What... what was wrong with Luke? What did they do to him?" Annabeth asked, her voice hoarse.

Percy looked up, his expression grim.

"I'm so sorry Annabeth," he muttered. "I... I couldn't -"

"Percy. What did they do to him?"

Percy closed his eyes and shivered. "I snuck into the fortress. Some kid was there – he had an eyepatch. His name was Nakamura, or something? He was joining up with the Titans."

Annabeth looked at Percy, confused. "And?"

"They were unwrapping a scythe. Kronos' scythe. With the kid's pledge, they were saying that they would have enough loyalty to make Kronos rise, or something."

Percy took a deep breath and looked Annabeth in the eye. "His sarcophagus was there. Kronos's sarcophagus. I... I opened it."

Percy's voice sent shivers down Leo's spine. Leo had a feeling bad news was coming.

"What happened, Percy?" Annabeth asked, her voice cold, but quiet.

"The body in the coffin was Luke's."

Annabeth blinked. "I... I don't understand."

Percy closed his eyes and continued. "The kid gave his pledge to Kronos. They used his pledge to summon up the last piece of Kronos's spirit. I – I saw it enter the sarcophagus. And then Luke stood up.

"But it wasn't Luke," Percy said quietly. "It was Kronos."

The group stared at Percy in shock, barely comprehending his words.

"No," Annabeth said. "That can't be true. He couldn't -"

"He gave himself over to Kronos," Percy said. "I'm sorry Annabeth. But Luke is gone."

"No!" Annabeth was shouting now. "You saw when Rachel hit him!"

Percy nodded. "You hit the Lord of the Titans in the eye with a blue plastic hairbrush."

Rachel blushed. "It was the only thing I had."

"But you saw," Annabeth insisted. "When it hit him, just for a second, he was dazed. He came back to his senses."

"So maybe Kronos wasn't completely settled in the body, or whatever," Percy said forcefully. "It doesn't mean Luke was in control."

"You want him to be evil, is that it?" Annabeth screamed. "You didn't know him before, Percy. I did!"

"What is it with you?" Percy snapped. "Why do you keep defending him?"

"Whoa, you two," Rachel intervened. "Knock it off!"

Annabeth whipped her head around and glared at her. "Stay out of it, mortal girl! If it wasn't for you..."

Annabeth's voice broke. She hugged her knees closer to her and sobbed. Percy was staring emotionlessly at a pebble in front of him.

The group went silent for a bit.

"We'll have to keep moving," Nico spoke up. "He'll send monsters after us."

Leo was still burned out from their sprint, but he got to his feet. Percy helped Rachel up, and Leo hesitantly walked over to Annabeth.

"Hey," Leo said.

Annabeth glanced up, her eyes red. Her fingers were rubbing a bead on her necklace – a faded clay bead with the image of a pine tree.

"I'm sorry, Leo," Annabeth muttered. "I'm sorry you're stuck in this mess."

Leo didn't know what to say, so he just stood there awkwardly.

Percy knelt next to Annabeth. "Hey, I'm sorry. But we need to move."

"I know," Annabeth whispered. "I'm... I'm all right."

She clearly wasn't, but she got to her feet.

Once again, they would be on the move.

"Back to New York," Percy said. "Rachel, can you -" his voice died.

Leo followed his eyes. A few feet ahead, illuminated by Percy's flashlight was a hat – a Rasta cap. He vaguely remembered a conversation from earlier:

"What about Tyson and Grover, then?"

"That's harder. They're not humans or half-bloods. They don't have mortal souls."

Percy's hands shook as he grabbed the mud-covered hat. He looked like he was about to lose it.

Percy looked around and shone his flashlight to the left. Leo could see fresh footprints – huge feet, and the footsteps of a hoofed animal.

"We have to follow them," Percy said. "They went that way. It must have been recently."

"What about Camp?" Nico reminded them. "There's no time."

"We have to find them. They're our friends." Annabeth spoke up. She grabbed the smashed hat and marched off, Percy at her heels.

Rachel, after hesitating, stumbled after them. Nico and Leo exchanged a glance, then followed.

The cave was treacherous. Everything was damp and moist, making it easy to slide along the rocks. The floor sloped at weird angles. Leo almost impaled himself on a stalagmite a few times.

Finally, they reached a large cave supported by the rock columns. Ahead was an underground river. Beside the banks were two figures – a large, bulky mass cradling a smaller figure in his laps.

Leo did a double take. The smaller figure was unconscious, but his legs...

"Tyson!" Percy yelled.

"Percy!" The big figure shouted. Leo was surprised at how young the voice sounded. "Come quick!"

The group ran over, and Leo followed. He stared wide-eyed at the creature before him. His face was normal – an acne-covered face with a fuzzy goatee – but –

"Why is he a donkey?" Leo choked out.

"Goat," Annabeth supplied. "He's a satyr."

The big guy's face looked up, and Leo nearly screamed. Instead of two eyes, there was one big one – right in the middle of his head.

"Cyclops," Nico murmured, and all Leo could do was nod.

 _A monster with one red eye, her hair in greasy pigtails, stared down at him in shock and confusion. "You live?" Then she took that extra step forward, which put her right where Leo wanted. "What are you?"_

 _"The son of Hephaestus," Leo said. "And I warned you I'd destroy you with fire."_

 _He pointed one finger in the air and summoned all his will. He'd never tried to do anything so focused and intense—but he shot a bolt of white-hot_

 _flames at the chain suspending the engine block above the Cyclops's head—aiming for the link that looked weaker than rest._

 _The flames died. Nothing happened. The monster laughed. "An impressive try, son of Hephaestus. It's been many centuries since I saw a fire user._

 _You'll make a spicy appetizer!"_

 _The chain snapped—that single link heated beyond its tolerance point—and the engine block fell, deadly and silent._

 _"I don't think so," Leo said._

 _The cyclops didn't even have time to look up._

 _Smash! No more Cyclops—just a pile of dust under a five-ton engine block._

Leo shook his head; if he survived this, he was sleeping for an eternity.

"What happened?" Percy asked worriedly.

"So many things," the Cyclops said. "Large snake. Large dogs. Men with swords. But then... we got close to here. Grover was excited. He ran. Then we reached this room, and he fell. Like this."

"Did he say anything?"

"He said, 'We're close.' Then he hit his head on rocks.

Percy knelt, his face worried but also excited. He shined his flashlight around the cavern.

Leo sucked in a breath. He didn't notice it before, but at the far end was an entrance to another cave, framed by giant columns made of what seemed like solid diamonds.

"Grover, wake up."

"Uhhhhhhhh..." the unconscious figure moaned.

Annabeth scooped up some water and splashed it onto his face.

The satyr spluttered and sat up. "Percy? Annabeth? Where..."

"It's okay," Percy said. "You passed out. The presence was too much for you."

"I – I remember. Pan."

"Yeah," Percy said, and they all glanced to the entrance ahead. "Something powerful is beyond that doorway."

There were some rushed introductions, as they introduced Leo and Rachel to Tyson and Grover. Once Leo got over his shock, he said a polite greeting to the satyr and the cyclops. Annabeth seemed like she was going to explode when Tyson called Rachel 'pretty'.

Leo thought it was pretty funny.

Once the introduction was over, Percy and Annabeth helped Grover to his feet and they began to cross the river.

The water was cold. Leo shivered – he was not a fan of water or the cold. They made it to the other side safely. He absently noted that Percy and Tyson were the only ones completely dry.

"I think we're in Carlsbad Caverns," Annabeth said through her chattering teeth. "Maybe an unexplored section."

"How do you know?"

"Carlsbad is in New Mexico. That would explain last winter."

Leo didn't know what they were talking about, but he still didn't know how they ran from California to New Mexico in less than two hours. He decided to stop thinking about it.

They walked ahead, towards the crystals. As they drew closer, Leo could feel his weariness rubbing away. There was a new spring in his step, a liveliness that he hadn't felt in all the years in foster homes and orphanages.

Grover whimpered. Leo glanced over and saw his eyes shining brightly. He was excited.

Nobody spoke. Even Nico was quiet. Finally, they stepped into the cave, and Rachel said, "Oh, wow."

* * *

'Oh wow' was right. A warm glow illuminated the room. The cave was loaded with crystals – large, radiant gems in every color. Soft green moss covered the floor, and giant flowers and vines crept among the crystals. The ceiling was up high and sparkled like a clear night sky.

In the center of the cave was an old-style bed – gilded wood and intricate designs. Surrounding the bed were a strange collection of animals – a wooly mammoth, what seemed to be a giant guinea pig, a wolf-tiger hybrid, and a dodo bird Leo could've sworn was humming.

On the was an old man – or satyr, Leo supposed. He had large glossy horns and a frosty white beard – even his goat fur was tinged with gray. A collection of pipes hung around his neck.

Grover stumbled forwards and fell to his knees. "Lord Pan!"

Leo, Nico, Rachel, Annabeth, and Tyson followed his example.

The satyr smiled, though his eyes were sad. "Grover, my dear, brave satyr. I have waited a very long time for you."

"I... got lost," Grover stammered out.

Pan laughed. His laugh was wonderful – a calming sound that echoed throughout the cavern, filling the demigods with hope.

The dodo bird affectionately nipped the god's hooves. The wolf-tiger rested his head on Pan's knee.

Percy seemed to shake off his awe and kneeled down. "You have a humming dodo bird."

Pan's eyes twinkled. "Yes, that's Dede. My little actress."

Dede the dodo tilted her head a hummed what sounded like a funeral song.

"This is the most beautiful place," Annabeth breathed out. "Better than any building ever designed!"

"I'm glad you like it, my dear," Pan said. "It is one of the last wild places. My realm above is gone, I'm afraid. Only pockets remain. Tiny pieces of life. This one shall stay undisturbed... for a little longer."

"My lord," Grover said, "please, you must come back with me! The Elders will never believe it! They'll be overjoyed! You can save the Wild!"

Pan ruffled Grover's hair. "You are so young, Grover. So good and true. I think I chose well."

"Chose?" Grover asked, echoing Leo's confusion. "I – I don't understand."

Pan's image flickered, like a hologram. The giant guinea pig squealed fearfully, and the wooly mammoth grunted. Dede hid her head under her wing.

"I have slept many eons," The god said. "My dreams have been dark. I wake fitfully, and each time my waking is shorter. Now we are near the end."

"What? But no! You're right here!"

"My dear satyr," Pan continued. "I tried to tell the world, two thousand years ago. I announced it to Lysas, a satyr very much like you. He lived in Ephesos, and tried to spread the word."

Annabeth's eyes widened. "The old story. A sailor passing by the coast of Ephesos heard a voice crying from the shore, 'Tell them that the great god Pan is dead.'"

"But it wasn't true!"

"Your kind never believed it," Pan said. "You sweet, stubborn satyrs refused to accept my passing. And I love you for that, but you only delayed the inevitable. You only prolonged my long, painful passing, my dark twilight sleep. It must end."

"No," Grover said, his voice trembling.

"Dear Grover," Pan said. "You must accept the truth. Your companion, Nico, he understands."

Nico nodded. "He's dying. He should have died long ago. This... this is more like a memory."

"But gods can't die!" Grover insisted, tears leaking out of his eyes.

"They can fade," Pan said sadly. "When everything they stood for is gone. When they cease to have power, and their sacred places disappear. The wild, my dear Grover, is so small now, so shattered, that no god can save it. My realm is gone. That is why I need you to carry a message. You must go back to the council. You must tell the satyrs, and the dryads, and the other spirits of nature, that the great god Pan is dead. Tell them of my passing. Because they must stop waiting for me to save them. I cannot. The only salvation you must make is yourself. Each of you must -"

Pan glanced at the dodo bird, who was humming.

"Dede, what are you doing? Are you singing Kumbaya again?"

Dede blinked.

Pan sighed. "Everybody's a cynic. But as I was saying, my dear Grover, each of you must take up my calling."

Grover whimpered. "But... no!"

"Be strong," Pan spoke. "You have found me, and now you must release me. You must carry on my spirit. It can no longer be carried by a god. It must be taken up by all of you."

Pan looked at the demigods and the mortal, and Leo realized that it wasn't just Grover or the satyrs. He meant half-bloods, humans... everyone.

"Percy Jackson. I know what you have seen today. I know your doubts, But I give you this news: when the time comes, you will not be ruled by fear."

He turned to Annabeth. "Daughter of Athena, your time is coming. You will play a great role, though it may not be the role you imagined."

Then Pan looked at Tyson. "Master Cyclops, do not despair. Heroes rarely live up to our expectations. But you, Tyson – your name shall live among the Cyclopes for generations. And Miss Rachel Dare..."

Rachel flinched. She looked at the ground guiltily, but Pan smiled warmly. "I know you believe you cannot make amends, but you are just as important as your father."

"I..." Rachel muttered, a tear tracing her teeth.

"I know you don't believe this now, but look for opportunities. They will come."

Then Pan turned to Leo. Leo hesitantly met his gaze, and he felt all his nervousness wash away.

Pan tilted his head. "This was unforseen," he began. "But you too, have a role. You will be confused, feel insecure... but remember, son of Hephaestus, that your friends care for you. You are no third wheel. I hope you choose wisely when your time comes."

Leo blinked. What did that even mean? He could see the others' faces out of the corners of his eyes, and they seemed confused too.

Finally, Pan turned to Grover. "My dear satyr," he said kindly, "will you carry my message?"

"I – I can't," Grover whispered, shaking.

"You can. You are the strongest and bravest. Your heart is true. You have believed in me more than anyone ever has, which is why you must be the first to release me."

"I don't want to," Grover sniffled.

"I know," the god said. "But my name, Pan... originally it meant rustic. Did you know that? But over the years, it has come to mean all. The spirit of the wild must pass to all of you now. You must tell each one you meet: if you would find Pan, take up Pan's spirit. Remake the Wild, a little at a time, each in your own corner of the world. You cannot wait for anyone else, even a god, to do that for you."

Grover wiped his eyes. Then he shakily got to his feet. "I've spent my whole life looking for you. Now... I release you."

Pan gave a bittersweet smile. "Thank you, my dear satyr. My final blessing." He closed his eyes. The god looked so peaceful, as if he were only asleep. He dissolved slowly, fading into a white mist. The mist expanded and filled the room, and divided into wisps of energy. A curl of smoke went into Leo's mouth and everyone else's.

Leo closed his eyes, the smoke filling him with clean energy, as if he had a good night's rest and a healthy meal.

When Leo opened his eyes, the cavern was a little dimmer. The animals looked sadly at him, before crumbling into dust. The vines withered away, and then the light faded completely. Soon, they were alone in a dark cave with an empty bed.

Leo pulled his flashlight out of his pocket and switched it on.

Grover seemed shaky – but stronger, somehow. His eyes were still red from crying, but his expression was a calm sort of sadness.

"Are... are you okay?" Percy asked quietly.

Grover was silent. He reached for the hat from Annabeth and put it onto his head.

"We should go now." He said, his eyes lingering on the bed where Pan once lay. "And... and tell them. Tell them that the great god Pan is dead."

* * *

 _I will try and update sooner this time, but no promises! Read and Review!_

 _Trivia:_

 ** _name three daughters of Aphrodite._**

 _thanks! Until next time._


	7. The Beautiful Roman

_sorry for the delay, but I'm back with a fantastic chapter! Also, Leo is a little OOC_ _in this chapter because I don't have a very good sense of humor. If you would like to suggest a joke or a prank I could put in the story to make him more... Leo, don't hesitate to do so. Thanks!_

 _By the way, this is my own chapter I have written, meaning it is totally different than Battle of the Labyrinth and Lazuli's story!_

 _a12333- I am definitely doing Beckendorf! He'll actually be one of the main characters, come the next few chapters. And thank you for the compliment._

 ** _Disclaimer: I don't own anything._**

* * *

"Rachel, are we almost there?" Annabeth asked, breaking the tense silence.

"Close," Rachel mumbled, looking dead on her feet. They all did, I suppose.

They were in almost two separate groups at the moment with a good foot between them: Tyson, Annabeth, Percy, and Rachel in front with Nico, Leo, and Grover in the back.

"Sooo..." Leo mumbled, the silence becoming too much for him. He turned to Grover. "Are you and Percy good friends?"

Nico snorted. "That's an understatement."

"Not really," Grover muttered, looking slightly dejected. "Ever since he became friends with Annabeth three years, he's kinda forgotten about me."

"No, he hasn't," Leo disagreed immediately, even though a part of him wondered how he knew that. He didn't know these people well at all. "Despite all the danger that came along with it, Percy and Annabeth both wanted to come find you and Tyson. Would they have done that if they'd forgotten about you?"

Grover paused, silent for nearly a dozen heartbeats. Finally, he said, "I guess you're right, but... I've accepted that Annabeth will always be Percy's best friend, and... I'll just be the unnamed sidekick. Convincing me otherwise would be a hard thing to do."

"I know how that feels," the words slipped out of Leo's mouth of their own accord and he mentally kicked himself. Why did he say that? He never opened up to anyone about his feelings of being left out, the extra wheel, so why was he telling Grover this? He hadn't even met the satyr an hour ago!

"We both do," Nico said, and Leo was grateful he didn't ask from an explanation. "I'm the son of the Lord of the dead; I was destined to be a loner."

Leo stopped in his tracks. Why did that sound so familiar?

" _Are you sure we can do this? Wouldn't this be breaking so many laws of the universe right now?"_

 _"People think there are laws of the universe, how things are supposed to be, like prophecies. But truthfully, no one is destined for anything."_

"Leo, you okay?" Grover suddenly asked, turning to face him.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but you're wrong, Nico," Leo stated, forcing his feet to move again. "No one's destined for anything. You make your own destiny."

Grover and Nico looked at him like he'd grow a second head.

"What do you mean? Everyone has a destiny," Nico said with a duh tone of voice.

Leo shook his head in a daze. "Yeah, but only you can determine that destiny. Someone told me that once, but... I can't remember who it was."

"Probably a mortal, who didn't know about prophecy or the Fates," Grover said with a slight smile.

Fates. Leo remembered their myth, three old ladies controlling the fates of mortals.

"What do the Fates look like?" Leo asked, slowly.

Grover looked confused at the sudden question, but he shrugged, "They're typically very ancient looking with cotton dresses, sitting in rocking chairs, and knitting what appears to be socks, but those socks represent your fate."

The three old ladies he'd met in the Labyrinth before he'd been taken into the arena.

"What would happen if someone died? Would they tie it?" Leo questioned.

"No, they'd cut it," Nico replied.

Wooh, they hadn't cut that orange string! That meant no one died... hopefully.

"And if they appear to someone? What does that mean?" Leo wondered, slowly.

"It usually means someone's going to die," Grover stated, solemnly, with a brief glance at Percy, but Leo's thoughts were racing so fast, he didn't even notice.

"What if they didn't cut it, though? What if they unraveled it and knit a different design? What would that mean?" Leo spoke fast and choppy, his thoughts coming out in a rush, unable to stay in his head any longer.

Nico shrugged. "I don't know. Why?"

Leo opened his mouth to explain the strange ladies he'd met before being taken to the arena, but was interrupted by Rachel.

"We're here," she said, pressing a blue triangle on the wall and Leo watched as a small rectangular doorway opened up and even Leo and Nico- the smallest of their group- had to squat down to fit.

They came out in a room filled with costumes.

"Marriott Basement," Rachel said, looking at Nico and Leo.

Climbing the stairs, the group burst out of the building and Leo squinted against the harsh sunlight, for he hadn't seen it in quite a while.

Skyscrapers looked above them, all types of different buildings glinting in the sun and shining down on them. The streets were filled with crowds of people and cars packed the streets, drivers honking and cursing at the traffic.

"Guys," Grover suddenly muttered and Tyson whirled around to look back at the doorway of the building they'd just exited. "Something's not right."

That something happened to be monsters. A Cyclops, two dracnea, an empousa, and a strange hybrid thing with eight heads.

"Hydra!" Annabeth suddenly screamed.

Leo remembered that myth. The hydra was a monster that could only be defeated if you could off the heads and burned the stumps, which meant that Leo was the only one that could defeat it, and doing so would mean exposing his powers.

"Guys," he hissed to the others. "We have to get them away from the mortals."

Percy nodded. "Scatter!" He yelled and the group obeyed, running around and winding up in groups of two: Percy and Annabeth; Nico and Rachel; and Grover and Tyson. Leo was on his own.

He saw the empousa chase after Percy and Annabeth while the Cyclops attacked Tyson and Grover. Meanwhile, the dracnea slathered after the mortal and the child of death. By sheer luck (for the demigods, not the hydra), the hydra chased after Leo.

Leo didn't know where he was running, but he knew he had to get away from the mortals, so at his first chance, he dove into an abandoned street with houses that were crumbling and there was not a human in sight.

At least Leo thought he was alone until he crashed into a human being.

Looking up, Leo froze.

 _"So you're the one who fired on my camp?" The girl yelled with a dagger pointed at him._

 _Even though those angry black eyes were glaring hard enough to make the Lord of lightning run for his mommy, all Leo could think was 'beautiful.'_

The girl had long black hair done up in a braid that flowed down her black in one, shiny strip of midnight. Her eyes were pure black, but not completely cold although stern and disciplined; they were the eyes of someone that had seen too much. She wore a ripped up purple dress with black leggings and a golden dagger was clipped to her belt.

"Who are you?" She demanded, reaching for her dagger.

"That doesn't matter right now!" Leo yelled. "There's a hydra-"

As if on cue, the monster came barreling around the corner, opening it's mouth to breathe fire.

The girl looked shocked and a little afraid, but not suprised as if she'd known a monster would find her sooner or later. That's what Leo had always thought when he came across a creature such as this.

"You cut off the heads; I'll burn the stumps!" Leo instructed, taking the role of leader for the first time in his life.

"How?" The girl yelled.

"Just trust me!"

The girl, looking very skilled at monster fighting, leapt up and used the rungs of a ladder on a nearby wall as a springboard. She went flying, twisting in midair and slicing through the neck of the hydra- one after the other. How many monsters she had to fight to get this skilled at monster fighting, Leo didn't want to know, nor did he have time to think about it.

Holding out his hands and keeping a watchful eye on the girl, who was still running along the hydra's back and slashing the heads off, he lit his hands on fire.

The girl was so shocked, she nearly fell off the monster's back, which would've been very painful for her.

Leo ignored her and shot a fire ball at the stumps of the hydra, making sure to avoid hitting the girl.

Before he knew it, the monster was nothing more than a pile of sand on the pavement.

"How did you..." the girl trailed off.

"My name's Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus and fire user, and you are?" Leo said with a cheeky grin, but really he was very uncomfortable with the way the world was spinning around him and the girl was starting to become blurry.

"Reyna, daughter of Bellona and... did you say Hephaestus?" She questioned.

Leo nodded. "Isn't Bellona Roman?"

Both he and Reyna froze as the situation dawned on them.

Leo saw the flash out of the corner of their eye and both he and the daughter of war turned to face the light with a silhouette in the center.

"Hello," a soft voice whispered and the light faded to reveal a small girl.

She was scrawny with long brown hair that cascaded down her back and pretty eyes the color of firewood. She wore a simple brown dress to her knees and her skin was pale as snow.

"I am Hestia. Reyna, you know me as Vesta, but since I am in my Greek form, I ask if you could please call me Hestia. Thank you," she said with a soft smile. "I am here to explain things to you."

Leo noticed that everything had frozen around him. A bird hung suspended in the air; no sound reached his ears. He wanted to ask why, but then again, couldn't goddesses do anything?

Hestia sat the two of them down and told them all about how the Romans and Greeks were kept apart for fear of bloodshed. Yet all Reyna and Leo wondered was why there was so much animosity between two groups that often wanted the same thing? The fall of the Titans for example.

"I have decided to tell you this whether than wipe your memories because I have a feeling you two will be the ones to bring the Romans and Greeks together. It will not occur for a few years, but I was speaking with Apollo and he recited a prophecy to me about about a threat that will require-"

"All the forces to come together- Greek, Roman, Norse, and Egyptian," Leo muttered.

Hestia looked up. "How did you know about-"

"I wish I knew, Lady Hestia," Leo replied, "but I really don't."

Lady Hestia nodded, looking totally convinced but definitely contemplating and curious. "Alright, I will tell to you the prophecy and then, we shall depart. Now, remember, until the Romans and Greeks come together, you must tell no one about the other side. Understood?"

The pair nodded.

Hestia took a deep breath.

" _There is is a pair- a Roman and Greek_

 _That will step in when their kinds are weak_

 _To bring the two sides together, they shall have to fight_

 _Through the darkest of all nights_

 _When the time comes, all will not be well_

 _But to fix the problems, the son of fire will experience hell"_

For a moment, no one moved and then, Hestia vanished, leaving Reyna and Leo alone.

"Well, I guess I'll see you when the time comes," Leo stated.

Reyna nodded. "Goodbye, Leo."

"Goodbye, Reyna."

They departed ways, and Leo raced back to find the group standing in front of the building, calling his name.

Nico's black clothes were covered in golden monster dust, drawing quite a few curious stares from mortals. Rachel had a fearful glance in her green eyes and she was splattered with golden dust.

Percy and Annabeth both wore singed clothes and they still had their weapons out, which the mortals didn't seem to be panicking about (Leo would later find out that this was the works of the Mist).

Grover and Tyson looked fine, expect for the fact that they were exhausted and their clothes bore a few rips and tears.

Percy spotted him first. "LEO! Where have you been?"

The group dashed towards the Latino and Leo couldn't have been more suprised if his dead mother had walked up to him and slapped him in the face when Percy hugged him.

"We were worried effing sick! How did you take care of the hydra?" Percy asked.

Leo shrugged. "Apparently, I got lucky. I stabbed it in the heart and it disintegrated." _Don't mention Reyna!_

Annabeth looked skeptical. "But you're new at this whole demigod-"

"Look, guys," Leo broke in in a defensive tone of voice, "I would love to explain my entire monster fight to you, but don't we have a battle to attend to?"

They exchanged glances and a heartbeat later, they took off running.

* * *

 _there's my Reyna bit, and she will appear later on, but probably not until sometime after the Last Olympian. Until next time!_


	8. Battle of the Labyrinth

_I'm back, and just so you know, this is where I really start to stray from both the book and Lazuli Queztal's story, so be prepared for that._

 _a12333- Thank you, and I actually imagined the same thing. I may even try to include that later on- like with a quest or something or another Great prophecy- but it won't be until after the heroes of Olympus series._

 _Rebornlikeablackphoenix- thank you for the compliment, and as for if Leo will go to Tartarus, I'm not sure. I've considered it, but haven't made a final decision on that. I'll probably do a vote on whether or not he should go to Tartarus when I get to the Mark of Athena._

 _Matt- thanks!_

 _Also, sorry I didn't do trivia last chapter. I forgot too, but I'll be doing it this chapter!_

 ** _Disclaimer: I own nothing._**

* * *

The battle had not begun, but it would any moment. Even Leo, who had only discovered the whole demigod thing a few days ago, could see that.

Cannons and cattlepults lines the edges of a huge field that had a pile of rocks (which honestly, resembled a pile of poop to Leo) and other demigods (people like him) were rushing around, gathering weapons and armor. Several banners hung from the trees and people who were alike in many ways and unlike in several were standing under them with swords, daggers, rifles, and everything in between. For example, under a banner of a dove, beautiful people dressed in armor held weapons, some looking like they'd done this a million times and others looking like they'd never done it before in their lives.

It was utter chaos, but the battle preparation held some beauty and order to it because these people were going to battle monsters and traitors, knowing full well that they could be killed.

A lot like us actually, he thought but then, froze. Where had that thought come from?

And yet, the memory was just out of reach. A girl that belonged under that dove banner, but looked nothing like them at all with her choppy brown hair and kaleidoscope eyes and a dagger at her belt.

Just as the next memory started to become more defined and real- a girl that looked nothing like Nico, but somehow Leo knew they were related- a splitting headache threatened to pierce his skull. He winced and staggered slightly.

Percy caught his shoulder and helped him stand straight. "Woah, buddy, you okay?"

"Yeah, just... a lot to take in." It was like a little voice in his head was telling him not to tell anyone, not just yet, like with his fire powers in the Labyrinth.

"I know, but don't worry, we're gonna win this battle, and hopefully... things will go back to normal." But Leo could hear it in Percy's voice; they both knew that nothing would be the same after this battle. People would die and grieving would start. The battleground would be tidied up, but it would still bore the scars of battle, just like everyone at camp would.

Huh, Leo being wise? That's a first, he thought. But it's hard not to be wise after you've seen so much.

What had he seen? The logical part of him chimed in. Compared to Percy and Annabeth, he hadn't seen anything yet.

But Leo was a demigod and he knew about all the crazy gods and monsters and the war raging on, so logic was pretty much thrown to the wind when he stepped onto the battlefield.

A cenetar came rushing over in battle armor. Leo should have been surprised, but he really wasn't. He'd seen too much weirdness to be surprised by a half horse, half man wielding a bow and arrow.

As he came closer, Leo recognized the cenetar as Chiron, the guy from Annabeth's iris message.

"Percy, Annabeth!" He gasped. "Thank goodness- you have gotten back just in time. What happened?"

Percy gave Chiron a quick rundown of the quest, and the more he explained, the more worried Chiron appeared.

"Just as I feared," Chiron muttered. "We must hurry. Hopefully, you have slowed the Titan lord down, but his army will be upon us soon. We must get into position."

"Wait!" A very old satyr demanded. "What about the search for Pan? You are almost three weeks overdue, Grover Underwood."

Leo could see Grover clench his jaw, and he didn't blame him. He'd only known the old satyr thirty seconds and even Leo thought he was irritating.

"The search does not matter anymore," Grover mumbled, looking both angry and dejected. "The great god Pan is dead."

"Lies!" The goat man screeched.

"No," Percy interrupted. "We all saw him die."

"No! Liars! Nature destroyers!" The satyr insisted.

Chiron studied Grover's expression before facing the goat man, who was continuing to throw a temper tantrum. "We will speak of this later."

"No, we will speak of this now!"

"Silenus, my camp is under attack. The search for Pan has waited two thousand years, and I fear it will have to wait a little longer. That is, if we are still here after tonight."

The satyr didn't reply. He simply spun on his hoof and stormed away in an enraged huff.

Chiron sighed and turned to face Leo. "You are a son of Hephaestus?"

Leo nodded and it felt unusually natural, like he'd known this fact for years and not days.

"Percy, would you please take Leo over to the Hephaestus cabin? Leo, you will be helping to set traps." Chiron hurried away to help some kids set up a cattlepult.

Turns out, Percy really didn't need to lead Leo. As soon as he and Percy started to walk, he strolled through the battlefield like he'd done it a million times. Next thing he knew, before Percy could say a single word, he was standing in front of a banner with a flaming hammer on it.

"Woah, how'd you know this was Hephaestus?" Percy asked as he walked up to him.

Leo shrugged. "Hephaestus is the god of blacksmiths and fire, so it was kind of obvious."

Leo knew that wasn't why, but for some reason, he couldn't tell Percy about the images and how he knew things he shouldn't and everything that had been going on. It wasn't the time or the place.

Percy nodded, excepting the answer. "Beckendorf!" He called and Leo jumped slightly, not expecting the sudden shout.

A burly, African American teenager with ripped muscles and short black hair wandered over, fiddling with something that looked like a remote.

"Percy, you're back!"

Percy nodded. "This is Leo, your half brother."

Beckendorf turned towards Leo, who shuffled from foot to foot as the older boy examined him. "Nice to meet you; I'm Beckendorf."

The shook hands and Leo tried not to feel intimidated about the fact that Beckendorf could, without a doubt, beat him to a pulp.

Beckendorf stared at him for another moment before handing him the remote. "Think you can program that?"

Leo looked at the remote in confusion, analyzing it before beginning the process. He twisted a wire here, connected the blue and red wire, disconnected something here and moved it here. After about a minute and a half, he handed it to Beckendorf, who began to examine it in amazement.

Beckendorf pressed the button and a celestial bronze net fell from a tree, which would have effectively trapped whatever had been beneath it. Leo reached over and pressed another button, which caused the net to rise at an impressive place and the trap was back to the way it had been.

The elder boys stared at Leo in shock.

"That," Percy muttered, "was awesome."

"Agreed," Beckendorf said with an almost... proud grin. "That was done with the most impressive speed I've seen. Come on. I've gotta few jobs for you."

Percy nodded and patted Leo's shoulder before rushing off to an empty patch of ground nearest to the creek.

Meanwhile, the twelve year old boy followed his brother to a tent and when he stepped inside, Leo's first thought was that he was in heaven.

Weapons, some fully made, others only half done, were strewn across tables and other remotes like the one Leo had programmed were lying on the tables. Kids were building cannons and cattlepults and other traps that all looked very impressive and tools had been spread haphazardly upon the floor, tables, and chairs. Scrap pieces of metal and extra wires were all over the place and a bonfire had been made in the corner as teens held weapons and other contraptions over the flame.

"Impressive, huh?" Beckendorf said with a smile.

Leo could only nod.

Beckendorf looked up and called, "Nyssa!"

A girl- the only girl, Leo noticed- with her black hair in a bandana and oil smudged hands came over.

"This is Leo, our half brother. I say just give him odd jobs, like programming the remotes or loading the cattlepults. Oh, and Leo, what kind of weapon can you use?"

"Um, I've been using this for a while," he held up the dagger that he'd received in the arena.

"Okay, good, you've gotta weapon, " Beckendorf said. "Hopefully, you won't have to fight too much, but you can never be too careful."

Leo nodded. "Trust me, I know."

Beckendorf smiled somewhat sadly before rushing over to help a kid working on a trap that looked like a trap door.

Nyssa faced Leo. "I'm Nyssa Steel. Nice to meet you, Leo, now come on."

Leo was glad he didn't have to suffer through those long, awkward introductions, but the fact that she was so rushed must mean that the battle must be upon them.

He followed her over to a table littered with contraptions and little things like remotes.

"Okay, fix these and then, help some of the other guys with the traps," she instructed before rushing off to the weapons table and began building them.

Leo set to work immediately, programming remotes and fixing the small contraptions and even constructing a few of his own with spare parts.

It wasn't long before a boy with blonde hair and purple eyes ducked into the tent.

"The battle's starting."

Three words was all it took to send everyone into chaos. Contraptions and inventions and traps clattered to the ground as the Hephaestus kids abandoned everything to race onto the battlefield, Leo among them.

The ground was quaking under their feet and Leo shivered as it reminded him of the way the dirt woman moved all those years ago in the machine shop.

At the mound of rocks, what had been a narrow crack, just big enough to fit a single person, was widening until it looked as if lightning had struck it. An opening large enough to fit at last one hydra and a small monster had opened and then, the monsters came pouring out.

There was no stare down between the armies like in the movies. The battle simply started with swords clashing and golden monster dust and human blood scattered across the earth.

Leo ran back into the tent, and started building traps with twice the amount of speed he had been.

He looked around and saw that only three of his siblings were building in the tent. Their job was to build and set up traps, so where were the others?

They didn't have time to spare, so Leo grabbed one kid with dark hair and brown eyes and they gathered the traps before bursting out onto the battlefield.

The battlefield was a madhouse. Leo caught sight of Percy and Annabeth fighting a rather nasty looking monster near the rocks. Beckendorf and a pretty girl with long black hair were battling a huge bull man that Leo recognized as the Minator. His half sister, Nyssa, had taken on two demigods at once and appeared to be winning. Grover and Tyson were fighting a few cyclopses and dracnea at the edge of the clearing.

Leo and the other kid started setting up traps and the kid looked impressed with Leo's speed, but the fire user wasn't doing it to show off. He was doing it for survival- of himself and his friends.

Leo happened to look up at the right time. A demigod in full battle armor with an eyepatch over one eye was raising a sword with trembling hands preparing to bring it down on his half brother's head.

Leo didn't think. He just grabbed his dagger from his belt and swooshed it in an arc above the surprised kid's head.

The swordsman was taken by surprise and his sword clattered away from him easily. Leo smacked the flat of his blade against the person's helmet and watched with slight satisfaction as they fell in a heap.

"Thanks," the kid whispered. "I owe you."

Leo smiled weakly. "You don't owe me anything. I may not know your name, but we are technically brothers. Now, where do we take him?"

"I'll show you," the kid said with a returned weak smile. He grabbed the traitor's arms and Leo took him by the legs as they dragged him over to an area next to Hephaestus cabin with a group of elfish looking teens standing outside of a cage with bars barely an inch apart. No way was anyone, not even Leo, sliding out of there.

They tossed him in and a kid locked it before holding their hand over the lock.

At Leo's confused look, his brother explained, "Children of Hermes. Locks are their specialty, as well as thieving and mischief."

Leo nodded before facing the battle. "We better go set up more traps. The battle's only getting worse."

The kid nodded and together, they ran back to the tent to continue setting up traps.

His brother and him, despite their better judgement, decided to split up and get more traps set, but that was not the best plan.

Leo was setting up a trap door when something clobbered him from behind and he fell to the dirt, reaching up to touch the wound on the back of his head. He felt something warm trickling through his fingers.

Spinning around, he just barely deflected a blow from a Cyclops's hammer and after that, stabbed it in the gut. That didn't kill it, but it definitely weakened the being. The child of blacksmiths slashed the monster across the throat and the creature fell.

A yell of pain startled him and he spun around to search for the source.

It was the kid that had helped him set the traps. He was sprawled upon the ground with a dracnea standing over him, wielding a spear.

"No," Leo muttered. He was sprinting across the battlefield, his dagger raised high, and as soon as he reached the monster, he gutted her before collapsing onto his knees beside his half brother.

The kid had a good sized wound in his side, right below his ribcage, and it was oozing blood at an alarming pace.

"Alexander," the boy coughed.

"What?" Leo whispered.

The boy smiled ever so slightly. "Alexander. That's my name. "

"I'm Leo," the Latino cried softly. "Alexander, please hang on."

"Can't promise you anything, Leo, but I do want you to know. You're one brave kid, little brother."

"You, too, Alexander. You, too."

Alexander's eyes closed and Leo went to check for a pulse, praying he'd find one, but before he could, pain erupted in his back. He collapsed and rolled onto his back, raising his dagger to deflect the blow from the demigod standing over him.

The traitor was disarmed easily enough, but not as easy as the boy had been. She kicked him in the stomach and Leo barely held in a scream as pain- more pain than there should have been with a simple kick to the stomach- flared through his body.

He watched as a blade was slammed against the girl's skull and she crumpled to the earth, unconscious.

Leo opened his mouth to thank the person, but another wave of pain caused him to shut it tight.

Touching his hand to his stomach, they came back soaked with crimson and this strange green stuff.

Poison.

It had barely processed in his mind before the pain became too much and everything went black.

* * *

 _oh, no! What's wrong with Leo? How will Ethan's capture change the war?_

 _Vote:_

 _Should I kill Alexander or no?_

 _Trivia:_

 **Name 3 people from Camp Jupiter (Not Hazel, Frank, or Reyna. If you put one of them, it will not count)**


	9. Conversations We Don't Want To Have

_I apologize for the long wait, but I had a bunch going on this month and didn't find a whole lot of time for updating. Thanks for being patient though!_

 _Luna Space got the trivia question first, but she didn't want to suggest a character. Congratulations to both you and our runner up, NoNaMe19Kanies._

 _NoNaMe19Kanies- I can definitely do Clovis. He actually works really well in this story come to think of it._

 _a12333- thank you for all of your nice reviews on this story. They really make my day!_

 _hhhj- thank you!_

 _SandCatCastle- Festus will be coming in within the next few chapters. I'll be tying it in with the Percy Jackson and the Bronze Dragon story, so after Leo gets settled at camp and I reread that story, Festus will come in._

 _WARNINGS: THERE IS A BRIEF MENTION OF ABUSE BUT NOT TOO DETAILED_

 ** _Disclaimer: I own nada._**

* * *

When Leo came too, he was lying in an uncomfortable bed with white sheets and there was a stinging sensation in his stomach.

Immediately, he pressed his hand to it and grimaced as this caused pain to skitter across that patch of skin.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," a voice laughed. "It'd suck to survive a battle and die because of a healing wound."

Leo turned towards the voice and he smiled in relief.

"Thank the gods you're alive."

"Thanks to you," Alexander responded, holding his hand to a bandage around his mid section. "That monster would've killed me if you hadn't stopped it. I owe you my life."

"You don't owe me anything," Leo said. "After all, we are brothers, friends, and comrades. That's three good reasons for me to save you, among many others."

Alexander smiled. "Thanks."

"What happened to me? I remember getting kicked in the stomach and then there was pain and... nothing."

Alexander nodded, his eyes focused on his lap. "Yeah, I don't know everything, so I'll have Will explain it."

"Will?" Leo asked.

"Will Solace," Alexander answered, disappearing through a door.

Will Solace... where had he heard that name before?

A boy stepped through the door, followed by Alexander. He was tall and thin with surfer blonde hair and blue eyes. His skin was tan and he wore an orange shirt and jeans with a doctor's coat over it. In his hands was a clipboard.

"Hey, Leo," he greeted. "Good news; as long as you're careful over the next few days, you'll be fine.

"Apparently, you were injured by a poisoned blade, a special kind of blade where the wound closes quickly and traps the poison in your system, making the wound even more dangerous. When that demigod kicked you, it caused the wound to flare up, making the wound worse.

"Still, we did manage to catch it in time and your wound will heal. Other than the occasional phantom pain, you'll be fine."

"Thanks," Leo said.

"Um, Alexander, could you leave for a minute?" Will asked.

Alexander looked confused and maybe a little worried, but he nodded and did as Will asked.

"Leo, I noticed some bruises all over you- too old to be from the Labyrinth," Will said.

Leo smiled. "Oh, I'm just a klutz, Will. Thanks, though."

"That is not just from being clumsy." Will reached over and before Leo could yank his arm away, Will lifted his sleeve and displayed a collage of bruises.

"Don't worry, Will, " Leo laughed, although it was a tad bit nervous. "Why do you think I was in the Labyrinth? I was escaping that."

Will frowned. "Okay, but still, don't hesitate to speak with someone about that."

"I won't," Leo lied. "Thanks for the concern, but really, I'm fine."

"Alright, if you're sure," Will said. "Now, you need to get some rest. Here."

He handed Leo a small white tablet, which the Latino swallowed.

"Pain killer. You probably don't feel too much pain now, but if you don't take one of those every few hours, you'll be feeling like you're in hell," Will supplied.

Leo nodded, drowsiness creeping into him.

"And they make you fall asleep like that," Will snapped his fingers, but Leo was already asleep.

* * *

When Leo woke up again, Alexander was gone, but Percy and Annabeth were there.

"Hey, guys," he said.

They turned to him, smiling in relief.

"Hi, Leo," Percy said. "Feeling better?"

Leo nodded. "I feel great actually. You two alright? It was kind of hard to keep track of you during the battle."

Annabeth nodded. "We're fine. Other than a few bumps and bruises, we came out perfectly okay. Others weren't so lucky." She shook her head, solemnly.

"I'm sorry," he stated. "I'm sure many good people were lost."

Percy's eyes held a strange mix of sadness and relief. "You were almost one of them. And you saved Alexander. Beckendorf said that as soon as he goes through his routine as head councilor, he's gonna come in here and thank you until you slap him."

Leo smiled slightly. "He seems like a good guy."

Annabeth grinned. "He is."

"Grover and Tyson are gonna come by later," Percy said. "And Nico as well. By the way, what did you say to Grover and Nico? They've been acting differently since we escaped the Labyrinth."

Leo thought back on their conversation. "Well, I don't want to tell you everything because that seems like an invasion of privacy to both of them. But just remember this, Percy: Grover and Nico feel left out, like they won't be remembered when they're gone. Show them that they're wrong, but be careful. Trying too hard will make them shut you out, so just be there for them, okay? Be their friend because remember, they may not always be there."

"When did you get so wise?" Annabeth asked, confused.

"I grew up fast," Leo said. "Wisdom kind of just comes with the territory."

There was a pregnant pause until Leo suddenly smiled.

"Don't look so glum. You know what I was thinking when all the monsters came out of the rocks? It looked like they were all coming out of a gigantic poop pile."

Percy laughed hysterically and Annabeth chuckled.

"Leo," Percy laughed, "we all thought that."

Annabeth nodded. "How do you manage it?" She asked curiously.

"What do you mean?" Leo questioned.

"You go through so much and you can still joke about it later. How do you do it?"

Leo shrugged. "If I don't lighten the mood, who will?"

Percy nodded. "Sometimes people tell us we're not being serious, but then again-"

"We make them smile when they're about to cry," Leo finished. "Trust me, I know the feeling."

"By the way," Annabeth suddenly spoke up, "Chiron told us to welcome you to camp half blood. He says he thinks you'll really like it here."

"Cheesy quote of the day: if there are people like you two and Alexander, I will. Guaranteed," Leo laughed.

"That was so sappy," Annabeth chuckled.

"I'm good at sappy and cheesy and corny. Which would you prefer to hear?" He joked.

Percy shook his head. "Well, I guess we'll leave you be. Get some rest because next week, the real fun begins."

He and Annabeth exited and Leo was already drifting off into slumber. He prayed for a dreamless sleep.

No such luck.

* * *

 _I hope Leo wasn't too OOC in this chapter, but if he was, blame it on the pain killers._

 _Until next time, my friends! Read and review!_

 ** _Trivia:_**

 ** _what monster attacked Percy on the St. Louis Arch in the Lighting Thief?_**


	10. Remember the Visions

_hello, everyone, sorry for the late update. Good news though! Next chapter Beckendorf and Nico are coming back in, and roughly two chapters after that, get ready to get reacquainted with our favorite bronze dragon!_

 ** _NoNaMe19Kanies- Clovis will be coming in soon, probably some time after they find Festus. So he'll be in the story within the next four chapters._**

 ** _Disclaimer: I own nada._**

* * *

 _Pain. It was all he knew. He couldn't breathe because something was pressing on his lungs and his eyes wouldn't open because doing so made the pain ten times worse. His body ached and screamed and he could see flames licking in and out of his vision, streaming off his body in multi colored tendrils. Even **he** could feel their heat._

 _Then, mercifully, the dream changed._

 _He was standing in a white room, lit by seemingly nothing- no light bulbs or lamps, not even a window, and yet the room was brightly lit- and his body no longer ached as it did. The room was empty, save for himself. There wasn't even a door._

 _When Leo noticed this, he began to panic a bit. He didn't like being trapped; like Percy with his sea powers, fire doesn't like to be restrained. Maybe that's why he has such a severe case of ADHD._

 _But anyway, right before he was going to start kicking the walls in an effort to get out, the wall before him slid open and something stepped through the opening. The wall slid back into place._

 _Leo realized with horror that it was, in fact, a person- a girl to be more specific. She was covered from head to toe in dirt and blood, some still shimmering crimson, other patches the color of rust or dried ketchup. Her brown hair was cut choppy and almost black from all the grime caked into it. Ripped and torn to shreds, her clothes (a fleece jacket and jeans) could barely be called clothes anymore. The only things that looked remotely human were her eyes- changing colors from blue to green to brown and shining with unshed tears. At first glance, they appeared as shattered glass but upon closer inspection, Leo could see a tiny strand of hope reflecting in those eyes. Those eyes that should be so familiar, but the memory, just out of reach._

 _"Leo," the girl said, choking back a sob. She surged forward and took his face in her hands, probably trying to check that it was him. How did she know him, but he didn't know her? "It is you! I thought I'd never see you again!" She wrapped him in a hug and he stumbled a bit from the shock._

 _"What-" he began, but she cut him off._

 _"Look, Leo," she breathed. "You need to help us."_

 _"What? How? Who am I helping?"_

 _She ignored his questions and forged on. "We're stuck here unless you change it, so please, Leo, do that. We need you."_

 _"I'm confused. Change what?" He demanded._

 _She shook her head, looking depressed. "They said they wiped your memory, but if you don't remember, how are you gonna change anything? I guess I just have to hope that they know what they're doing."_

 _"Who? What about my memory?" Leo's voice was rising with frustration._

 _"Leo, help us. Trust those visions; you're not crazy or delusional. Those visions are important. Don't forget that, Repair Boy."_

 _She vanished, along with the rest of the dream._

* * *

When he woke up, Grover was sitting beside his bed, reading a nature magazine.

"Hey, man," Leo greeted. "What's up?"

Grover looked over the magazine and smiled. "Thank goodness you're awake. I came in right after Percy and Annabeth two hours. I was beginning to think you were dead."

Had he really been asleep for two hours? It felt like a few minutes.

"Well, you know me, man. I need my beauty rest," Leo said in a matter of a fact voice with a cheeky grin. "How is everything? Percy and Annabeth didn't tell me."

Grover shrugged. "It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I expected at least a dozen people to die and at least triple that to be wounded. Four people died during the battle and about twenty were wounded. It's really a miracle."

Leo smiled. "That's good. Honestly, when I saw those armies, I thought this camp would be burned to the ground by the end of the battle. Despite the people we lost, we were lucky not to have half of the camp in the Underworld."

"Agreed. Still sorry you got hurt though."

"Hey, I'm alive! And so is Alexander. Could've been worse, right?"

Grover nodded. "What were you dreaming about?"

Leo started. How did Grover know? He was sure he hadn't screamed and he rarely talked in his sleep.

"Satyrs can read emotions," Grover explained, seeing his look of confusion. "I can sense your fear."

Leo made a mental note to shut off all emotions when he was around satyrs.

He sighed, trying to think of a way to explain it. "Well, it began when I was in a lot of pain. I was on fire and every muscle in my body ached like hell. I couldn't breathe and I think I was falling, but I couldn't tell. Pain was all I knew."

Grover winced at the description. "Ouch."

Leo nodded with a shrug. "Strangely, though, that wasn't the weirdest or the one that just... gave me the heebie jeebies. What happened next somehow scared me more.

"I was in a white room with nothing in it. Not even a door. Then, one of the walls slid open and a girl stepped in. Man, she resembled a lake monster with all that blood and dirt all over her. She seemed to know me even though I didn't know her, and she acted like I'd died or something and she was given the chance to see me again. She told me they needed help. I asked her who they were, but she wouldn't answer. All she told me was trust the visions. Then, the dream ended."

Grover nodded, looking a little disturbed. "And you're sure you didn't know her?"

Leo shook his head. "Positive. Even covered in dirt, I could tell that I've never met her before."

He decided to keep the part about seeing her in a few of his visions to himself. Now didn't seem like the right time to tell.

"And are you having any visions?" Grover pushed.

Leo shrugged. "Other than that dream, nothing."

Grover nodded, looking deep in thought. "All right, I'll admit, that is rather odd, even for a demigod dream. Just... tell me if you have any more of those dreams or any visions. Make sure you tell Chiron. Maybe he'll know what it means."

"Grover!" A female voice called and a girl that highly resembled a tree with greenish skin and a moss colored dress stood in the doorway. "Oh, hi, you must be Leo. Grover's told me about you. I'm Juniper."

If you would've asked Leo a week ago, he would've screamed and threw a rock at the weird tree girl. But now... it wasn't the strangest thing he'd seen. In fact, this girl was the most normal thing he'd observed since getting thrown into the mythical world.

"Pleased to meet you," he said.

Juniper smiled at him before turning to Grover. "You could come help us finish fixing up the clearing. We're almost done, but we could use as many hands as possible."

"Got it, Juniper. See you, Leo, and remember what I said," Grover stated, staring at the younger with a stern gaze.

Leo rolled his eyes, but nodded. "Yes, Mom."

Grover chuckled and left the Infirmary.

Leo took a deep breath and prayed that Grover would forget about the dreams and visions. Whatever this was, Grover didn't need to be dragged into it until absolutely necessary.

And Fate answered Leo's prayer because soon afterward, Grover Underwood forgot all about the discussion. But he would have to remember some day, just not someday soon.

Fate would make sure of that.

* * *

 _IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: **I just finished one of my other stories and I have a rule that when I complete a story, I start a new one. I have 5 ideas and have posted the summaries on my profile. Two are Leo Valdez, one is a Leo Valdez crossover with the Outsiders story, and two are Harry Potter (Sirius and Regulus Black). Just read those summaries and review on any one of my stories which story you would like to see me post first.**_

 _ **Thanks!**_


	11. New Friends For All

_Back to the Beginning is up, for all of those that want to read it! And sorry for my absence, but I was struggling with some writers block. but I'm back!_

 _NoNameKaneis19- Clovis is coming. Probably after the whole Festus the dragon thing is sorted out, so chapter fourteen or fifteen._

 ** _Disclaimer: I own nada._**

* * *

When Leo awoke once more, Beckendorf was seated at his bedside, fiddling with a collection of wires, and gazing at him with admiration.

"Damn it, you're a brave kid," was all the elder said.

Leo was puzzled as he stared at his brother. "What do you mean?"

Beckendorf barked an incredulous laugh. "Kid, you saved Alexander and ran out onto the battle field to set up traps, knowing the dangers. If that isn't bravery, I don't know what is."

Leo smiled. "I wouldn't call it brave; I'd call it necessary. After all, I met those guys that attacked and trust me, I wouldn't wish them on my worst enemy... okay, I take that back. I wouldn't wish them on my worst mortal enemy."

Beckendorf laughed. "That we can agree on, but I still think you're being modest. And the way you assembled those traps... amazing. You trapped a dozen traitorous demigods, and killed at least twenty monsters with them."

Leo just smiled. "I just did what I had to do, but I'm more than okay with taking the credit," he said in a mock superior voice.

The brothers busted out laughing, and for that moment, Leo could almost pretend that he was normal. That he had an older brother and they went to summer camp and... but it was nothing but a dream, a wish. Leo Valdez was anything but normal.

And in a way, he was okay with that.

"So, why were you in the Labyrinth?" Beckendorf asked, curiously. "I wouldn't willingly go into it, even if I didn't know what it was."

Leo shrugged. "Well, I didn't mean to enter the Labyrinth. I was on the run from a foster home and ran into a monster in the sewer. I panicked and just started running. I somehow wound up in the Labyrinth and that's where I met Percy, Annabeth, and those monsters."

Beckendorf nodded, solemnly, and then, as if reading Leo's deepest thoughts, he stated, "Well, you've got a home now. You won't be running away again."

Leo faked a smile; that's what they all said. "Thanks, Beckendorf. And how are the rest of them: Jake, Nyssa..."

Beckendorf grinned. "They're fine. Few scrapes and some bruises, one broken bone, but beyond that, perfect. The only problem we have is Alexander hasn't slept worrying over you."

Leo raised an eyebrow. "Why would he need to worry over me?"

"You're in the Infirmary. He saw you get injured. I guess it's just a subconscious thing, or maybe guilt. I have no idea, but I'm sure he'll be fine after you're out of here and move into the cabin."

Leo grinned. "He better be or I'll drag _his_ butt down to the Infirmary."

Beckendorf chuckled, but before he could say anything else, the door opened.

"Oh, sorry, Beckendorf, I didn't realize you were in here."

"That's cool, Nico. I was just getting acquainted with my little brother," Beckendorf smiled before a _ding!_ broke the stillness of the room. "Speaking of siblings, one of them needs me. See you later, Leo."

Charles Beckendorf left and Nico Di Angelo took his place at the foot of Leo's bed.

"How are you doing?" Nico asked.

Leo shrugged. "Well, I'm fine. I actually don't even feel any pain, and Will's not too concerned, so I'm guessing those are all good signs."

"I meant... are you okay mentally?" Nico sighed.

Leo was confused. "I'm fine. I mean, I've never exactly been sane, but I'm as fine as I'll ever be."

Lie: he'll never be as fine as he was before his mom died, but he wasn't about to say that to Nico.

Nico leaned back in his chair. "It's just... the Labyrinth is... special. It's known for driving it's travellers crazy and haunting them in the form of dreams, flashbacks, etc. And perhaps worst of all, it brings back old memories and emotions. If a person had amnesia, sometimes they would travel the Labyrinth in search of their memories, good and bad. Percy and Annabeth haven't stopped having nightmares. I just wanted to make sure that you're okay." **(AN: I made this up, so this is not actually apart of the myth)**

Leo shrugged. "I'm fine. The only nightmare I've had revolved around a girl I didn't know, saying something about remember the visions or some crazy stuff that made no sense."

Nico perked up, his back going straight as a rod. "And you're saying this just happened? Nothing leading up to it... just a random dream."

Leo shrugged his shoulders. "Well, I wouldn't say it was random. It'll be important someday, as my dreams typically are, but at the moment, I have no clue what it means."

Nico nodded, still looking suspicious but deciding not to push it. "Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks."

"Thanks? For what?"

"For what you said in the Labyrinth. Telling me that I'm not destined to be a loner," Nico responded. "I don't entirely believe that, but it was nice to hear that one day, maybe I'll have friends."

Leo laughed. "Nico, you already have friends. You have me, and after you comforted him, do you really think Grover's gonna walk away? And that's not even mentioning Percy, Annabeth, and Rachel."

Nico rolled his eyes. "You and Grover, maybe. The other three? They're caught up in their own lives."

"Well..."

The flash hit him so suddenly, Leo almost fell out of the bed.

 _A scrawny kid with pale skin and wearing all black was lying on a stretcher, holding hands with a blonde teen, just as pale but he may have once had tan skin. Neither were breathing._

Leo shook himself out of the flash before looking Nico in the eye, his tone and expression joking but his eyes dead serious.

"Why don't you make your own friends instead of waiting for them to come to you? Percy told me you got along with the Stoll brothers, right? And there are tons of kids at camp. Like... what about the Healer kid, Will? Go talk to him."

Leo nodded towards Will, who was boredly stalking the medicine cabinet.

Nico's eyes went wide with anxiety. "No, no, no, I'm not good with people. I-"

"And that's why you don't have many friends," Leo interrupted. "You gotta stop waiting for people to talk to you. He looks bored; go help him and just make conversation."

"But my dad is-"

"Hades, I know. So what? Go over there, and just be Nico for a while. Not the son of Hades or a hero or even a demigod for a while. Just try to be a normal kid, if only for an hour."

Nico looked ready to protest, but Leo kicked him in the hip and he got up, glaring at the Latino. True to his word, he walked over to Will and introduced himself before helping him stack some bottles and packages in the cabinet.

Leo smiled as he leaned back in his bed, hands behind his head. The wonders of a good pep talk.

* * *

"Now, if you feel any pain, come back to the Infirmary. Take one of these every day when you wake up and before you go to bed until the prescription runs out. After that, you should be fine. And whatever you do, do not push yourself too hard in training. I've already told Beckendorf to make sure you take it easy," Will finished, forcing the bottle into Leo's hand.

Leo chuckled. "Alright, Doctor."

Will playfully glared at him, but Leo knew he secretly liked the title.

"Now, go, and Leo?"

"Yeah?"

"You were the one that forced Nico to talk to me, weren't you?"

Leo smiled, somewhat sheepishly but mostly proud. "Yeah. You two looked like you both could use a friend. After all, I only saw you leave the Infirmary four times in the week I was there; sometimes you just fell asleep in one of the beds. And Nico's new... somewhat."

Will grinned. "Thanks. To tell you the truth, outside of my siblings, Nico's my first friend. I'll never be able to thank you enough for that."

"You're not gonna, like, hug me, are you?"

Will shook his head, chuckling. "No. But thanks, and remember what I said."

"Got it, Will. Now, I have to go get my schedule from Beckendorf."

"Good luck in capture the flag."

Will Solace ran off while Leo blinked and started for the cabins.

It was time to get officially acquainted with his siblings.

* * *

 _Next chapter is capture the flag and Festus shows up! What could happen with Leo there *michevious, child of Hermes laugh*_

 _The beginnings of Solangelo! if you don't like Solangelo, get out... just kidding, but seriously, Solangelo will play a big part come Heroes of Olympus. Until then, Nico and Will will remain friends because it would be a little weird for a twelve year old to start dating..._

 _Moment over. See you next time!_

 _Also, I am taking a break from trivia until Chapter fifteen, just to get caught up on my characters!_


	12. Happy the Dragon Part 1

_Sorry for the delay, but real life can be a b**** sometimes, am I right? Anyway, I'm back with the Festus chapter!_

 _Also, some of these events may be out of order, but the dragon story stays mostly the same. there isn't a whole lot of dialogue in this chapter because it was hard to put the dialogue in. sorry about that._

 _WARNINGS: LANGUAGE_

 ** _Disclaimer: I own nothing._**

* * *

"Is this really the best idea?" Percy asked. "We are walking straight into enemy territory with a newbie- no offense, Leo."

"None taken," he responded.

Leo had really been worried for nothing. His siblings had accepted him immediately- a little too quickly, compared to his past foster homes- and he was average at everything, except archery. His noodle arms did nothing for him when he tried to pull that bow string back.

But Capture the Flag... now, that was something to be worried about. Leo had played Capture the Flag in gym class, and he wasn't too bad, but that was when he was racing against kids his own age with nothing but tennis shoes and fists. Now, he was going against kids going from seven and eight to early twenties with real swords and shields and magical items. Let's not even mention the amount of training some of these kids had.

Still, Beckendorf wouldn't allow him to not participate, so here he was, with a dagger given to him by a monster in a maze of horrors and a sheet of camouflage over him, his half brother, and their friend.

"Look, Percy, Leo may be new, but he's also small and clever and no one expects us to send a newbie. He's our best bet."

"Well, thank you, but I'm with Percy on this one. I have no training-"

"Ha!" Beckendorf chuckled, quietly. "I've heard stories about you in the Labyrinth; you have enough training to get through one game of Capture the Flag."

Leo opened his mouth to retort, but then, he heard it: a rustling nearby and this strange clacking, like an animal clicking it's pinchers together.

"Shh, I hear something," he hissed.

Beckendorf and Percy looked at him strangely before they heard it, too, and with Beckendorf in the lead, they crept through the bushes towards the sound.

"Oh, fuck," Percy cursed, quietly.

Leo silently agreed, but his mouth wouldn't open to voice that.

A huge- no, ginormous- ant hill loomed ahead of them, several tunnels staring out at them like eyes. Ants bigger than Leo and as black as night crawled over the mound, dragging different objects like fruits and food from the Pavillion.

Beckendorf gasped (a bit delayed, Leo thought) before he followed his brother's eyes and his jaw hit the dirt.

Two ants were dragging a rusty dragon's head between them, and it looked so familiar. Something about the bronze metal and the dim ruby eyes and the razor sharp teeth made his stomach turn in the wrong way. Not like DANGER! but more like SAVE HIM! That made no sense because it's an effing dragon!

"The gift of Hephaestus," his brother muttered.

"What?" Leo hissed, but he was too late. Beckendorf had already leaped over the bushes and was charging at the ants, looking so determined, Leo knew he wouldn't be able to stop him if he tried.

Beckendorf thrust his sword towards one ant, but even Beckendorf, who was big and burly and obviously experienced, could not battle those things. Acid was spat from the mouth of one ant, and another ant bit his brother's leg before they dragged him into a tunnel.

"Oh, shit," Leo murmured, and Percy nodded, his eyes so shocked Leo worried Percy may have a heart attack.

Before Leo could do something stupid like run after his brother, he felt the sharp blade of a dagger pressing into his neck.

"Caught you," Annabeth's voice rang in his ear, filled with self pride.

"Annabeth," he hissed, his voice filled with fear and his wide eyes straight ahead.

Annabeth follows his eyes, and he heads two gasps of surprise.

"Oh my gods," he heard a familiar voice. What was her name? Stella? No... Silena. Silena Beauregard.

"The Ant Hill," Annabeth breathed.

"Wait!" Silena suddenly spoke, her voice alarmed. "Where's Charlie?"

On a normal occasion, Leo would've burst out laughing at his brother's nickname, but this was not a normal occasion in any way.

Percy pointed to the Ant Hill, and Annabeth cursed, loudly.

"What happened?" Silena hissed, her voice reminding him of someone's, but he couldn't remember who's. It began with a P... something to do with music, maybe...

A migraine threatened to split his head in two, and he flinched; okay, that's basically telling him to focus on the task at hand.

"He saw that, and he just went for it... something about a gift from Hephaestus," Leo told her, pointing to the dragon head, which had been discarded when the ants had captured Beckendorf.

Annabeth looked at it and nodded, like it made perfect sense. "Leo," she said, suddenly, "can you tell if it's a gift from Hephaestus?"

"How?"

"Is it like... pulling you to it?"

Leo would have thought Annabeth was crazy if it weren't true. There was something about the dragon head that made him want to leap over the bush and fight for it.

Not sure how to put this feeling into words, he simply nodded.

Annabeth nodded right along with him before she jumped over the bushes and ran for the dragon head. Leo didn't know why, but he followed her.

"What are you two doing?" Percy called, quietly.

Annabeth and Leo ignored him as they heaved the dragon head into their arms and dragged it by the wires. They hurriedly beckoned for the other two to come on, all while keeping a close eye on the ants.

Silena and Percy rushed after them, Silena muttering something about them 'caring more about a hunk of metal than Charlie.' Leo was ready to insult her because he most certainly did not care more about the dragon head than his brother... it was more 50/50.

"Why are we dragging a dragon head through the woods instead of helping Beckendorf?!" Percy exclaimed.

Leo was about to say I don't know, but Annabeth beat him to the punch.

"This is how we're going to invade the Ant Hill."

"But it's just a head. It's broken," Percy reminded her.

"Maybe so, but nothing is unfixable," Leo rattled off his mother's old saying before he even knew what he wanted to say.

"Leo's right," Annabeth agreed. "But Percy, have you ever heard the legends?"

"What legends?"

Silena gasped. "You think this might be the old gaurdian?"

"Guardian? What?" Percy demanded.

"In the days before Thalia's tree, there was an old guardian that protected the camp from monsters. Some time after Thalia became a tree, the guardian disappeared."

"And you think this might be it's head?" Percy asked in disbelief.

Annabeth swiped aside some of her curls. "What else could it be? The dragon went haywire and bounded off into the woods, where it's been hidden for years. The ants must have found the head, and-"

"AHH!" Leo yelped as he skittered to a halt right on the edge of some kind of hole, so deep and steep, climbing up would be extremely difficult.

And at the bottom was the dragon's body.

It was several yards long, easily as wide as a football field, and the same bronze as the head, rusty and caked with grime. Buttons were hidden among the bronze skin, buttons that only Leo could see with his eye for mechanics. Gears and wires were frozen beneath the metal, a bit rusty but eager to work again.

"Well," Percy said, "We found the dragon."

 _Festus_.

* * *

 _Well, until next time, which I hope will be much sooner than this chapter was._


	13. Happy the Dragon Part 2

_I am ashamed of myself for this late update. I beg your forgiveness._

 _Anyway, a few notes for this chapter. One, Annabeth doesn't speak Morse code because it really doesn't fit in with the story. Two, I used a translator for the Morse code, so I apologize if there are any inaccuracies._

 ** _Disclaimer: if I owned Percy Jackson, Leo Valdez would be the main character. Therefore, I own nothing._**

* * *

Fixing the dragon was fairly easy for Leo, although it took more time than he would've liked.

After about fifteen minutes, the dragon would be up and running as soon as they connected the head.

"That was quick," Annabeth said, sounding impressed.

"Not as quick as I would've liked," Leo told her. "We need to hurry. I am not going to meet my brother and lose him within the same week. Now, hand me the head."

Percy and Annabeth heaved it into his arms.

Leo felt it rather than saw it. A sense of warmth and familiarity coursed through his veins when the metal of the dragon touched his own tan skin.

A few wire connections later, and the dragon's ruby eyes glowed; it's razor sharp teeth rotated.

"That doesn't sound good," Percy muttered.

The dragon moved, it's joints creaking, before standing.

Annabeth had said the dragon went haywire, but it didn't seem to be doing that now. In fact, the dragon seemed almost calm.

The dragon creeked out a message.

-.-. ... .. .-.. -.. - ..-. ... . .-. ... .- . ... - ..- ...

 _Child of Hephaestus._

Leo nodded. "Yeah."

"Wait," Silena demanded, "you can understand that thing?"

.. .- - .- ... .

 _I am a he._

"It's a he," Leo corrected Silena. "To answer your question, yes. He speaks Morse code. What's your name?"

..-. . ... - ..- ... .-.-.- - ... .- - ... - ... . -. .- - . -.- - ..- -. .- ...- . - .

 _Festus. That's the name you gave me._

"What do you mean?" Leo asked, bewildered.

"What did... he say?" Percy asked.

"Well, he said his name is Festus," Leo told him, "but he also said that I gave him that name. I've never seen this dragon before; how could I name him?"

Suddenly, Leo saw the time on his watch.

" _Mierda_!" He cursed. "We'll worry about that later. Right now, Beckendorf, another child of Hephaestus, is in danger. We need you to distract the monsters holing him captive. Can you do that, Festus?"

As a way of answering, the dragon lowered himself to the ground and gestured to his back with his head.

Leo hopped on as if he'd done it a hundred times before.

If the situation weren't so dire, he was sure that the others would've protested riding on a dragon's back, but today, they just followed his lead.

Festus walked through the woods, oddly quiet for a dragon.

They arrived at the Ant Hill, and Festus set them down before fixing his ruby eyes on the Ants.

-. - - -.. .-.. ..- -.-. -.- -..- .-.. . -

Leo gaped at the dragon.

 _Good luck, Leo._

They hadn't mentioned his name.

Leo shrugged it off for now and nodded.

That's when the dragon went crazy.

Festus crashed through the bushes, stomping on ants and causing mayhem.

The others seemed too shocked to move, so Leo grabbed Percy's wrist and ran, knowing the others would follow.

They slid through one of the openings, and the first thing that hit him was the smell.

It was a rancid smell, like spoiled milk, a hundred dumpsters, and a dozen dead bodies combined. Leo shivered at that last thought.

Leo wasted no time, and neither did Silena. While Percy and Annabeth were getting over the smell, the child of Hephaestus and the daughter of Aphrodite were already sprinting down the tunnel.

The first room they found was a treasure room, and even Silena had to stop and look.

Leo examined the jewels without really seeing them.

The only thought he had was Hazel.

Who was Hazel? He didn't even know a Hazel! The name sounding... frighteningly familiar though.

He shrugged it off and turned to the others.

"Come on, guys, we don't have much time," he told them, yanking them away from the treasure room.

They found Beckendorf on the next try.

The room was full of these weird cocoon shaped objects. Some of them were moving like they were alive...

Beckendorf was right by the entrance, his face beaded with sweat and his clothes covered in steaming acid.

"Charlie!" Silena gasped, kneeling beside him.

"Ow," he muttered.

Leo knelt beside him and helped him up, glad to see that Percy got on the other side to do so as well.

"But... the ants..." Beckendorf mumbled.

"Don't worry, buddy, we caused a distraction," Leo said.

They dragged Beckendorf through the tunnels and back to the surface.

Festus immediately dropped the Ant he was holding in his mouth and batted the rest away like flies as he bounded over.

"What the-" Beckendorf began.

"No time to explain," Annabeth told him as Percy and Leo hoisted the eldest onto the dragon. The rest of the group jumped on after him.

"Go, Festus!" Leo cried.

Festus raced through the woods, no longer caring about sound, until they were as far away from the Ant Hill as possible.

"So... the dragon?" Beckendorf asked as he gratefully took the ambrosia Silena offered him from a pocket in her armor.

"Well, apparently it listens to Leo," Percy answered. "He fixed him, and we were worried he would go haywire, but... he listens to Leo."

"Child of Hephaestus, maybe?" Beckendorf wondered.

Leo shook his head. "I don't think it's that. He seems to know why I am. When I asked him his name, he told me I named him Festus, but I've never seen him before. And he knew my name before we mentioned it."

"Um, guys?" Silena interrupted. "Where are we?"

Leo turned and saw that she had a point: he had no idea where they were.

They were facing a limestone cliff in in a small clearing surrounded by trees. Wherever they were, it was far away from camp.

"Festus probably got lost," he told them. "Why don't we take a look around and find the way back to camp?"

"Kay," Percy agreed.

They split up, Annabeth taking right; Percy taking left; and a healed Beckendorf and Silena taking straight ahead.

"Thanks, Buddy," he told Festus.

.-. ..- - -.- - ..- .-. ... .- -. -.. - -. - ... . -.-. .-.. .. ..-. ..-.

 _Put your hand on the cliff._

"Why?" He asked.

.- ..- ... - -.. - .. - -... . ..-. - .-. . - ... . - - ... . .-. ... -.-. - - . -... .- -.-. -.-

 _Just do it before the others come back._

Leo shrugged and placed his hand on the limestone cliff.

You can imagine his surprise when lines of fire shot from his finger tips, creating a door five times as tall as Leo.

Leo opened it.

It was a workshop, filled with tools and metals and half built inventions. It was like an advanced version of Cabin Nine and the forges combined.

A faded banner was hung over it all.

Leo read the words written there.

Bunker Nine.

* * *

 _For those of you that are curious, I have decided on the length of this story. This story will be twenty chapters total, and most of the rest of the story will revolve around Leo's time at camp and his training. There will be a follow up story about the Last Olympian, and then, The Lost Hero, and so on._


	14. Bunker Nine and Nightmares

_Hello! It's me again... obviously._

 _WARNINGS: A VERY BAD NIGHTMARE AT THE END! IT IS IN ITALICS IF YOU WANT TO SKIP IT._

 ** _Disclaimer: I own nada._**

* * *

"Guys?" He called over his shoulder. "Get over here!"

"What is- what the Hades?" Percy gaped as he stepped inside. "What is this place?"

"Bunker Nine," Leo answered, gesturing to the banner.

"How did you find it?" Annabeth asked, coming up behind them.

"Um, well, Festus breathed fire on the cliff, and a door appeared," Leo lied. "I think this is his home."

"Wait, the dragon can breathe fire?" Silena questioned as she and Beckendorf joined them.

Leo shrugged. "Apparently." He really didn't know how he knew that, but he tried to blame it on when he was fixing the dragon.

"I'm in heaven," Beckendorf said, his jaw on the floor.

The group laughed.

"Hey," Leo suddenly said. "A spray gun. Do any of you have a drachma?"

Annabeth pulled a hand full out of her pocket. "Never leave home without them."

"Why?" Percy asked.

"We can Iris Message camp," Beckendorf said, catching on.

Leo smiled a mischievous smile. "Let's tell Chiron of our findings, my friends."

"What was that? " Percy asked, chuckling.

"I don't know, but if I ever decide to be an evil villian, I've got the voice down," Leo laughed.

He took a drachma from Annabeth and stepped outside, handing Percy the spray gun. After finding a well lit area, he nodded to his friend and threw the gold coin into the sprout of water.

"Oh, Iris, goddess of the rainbow, accept my offering. Show me Chiron at Camp Half Blood."

Chiron appeared... as did the entire camp.

"Leo," he said, relieved. "We've been looking for you. Are Percy, Annabeth, Beckendorf, and Silena there?"

A chorus of greetings rang out.

"What happened?" Nyssa demanded, walking up behind Chiron. "Capture the Flag ended fifteen minutes ago, and none of you showed up. We've been waiting. All of our Iris Messages fell through."

"Well, Nyssa, how about this? Beckendorf explains half of it because it's his fault we got into that situation in the first place!"

"Shut up!"

"You know it's true."

"Fine. Move over." Beckendorf shoved Leo out of the way and proceeded to tell the camp the first part of the story from finding the Ant Hill to him getting taken.

"Who tells the next part?" He asked when he finished.

"Leo!" Silena, Percy, and Annabeth chorused.

"Oh, fine. Budge up, brother."

And then, Leo told them about fixing Festus and finding the Bunker (the edited version, of course. One problem at a time).

Nyssa sighed. "How do you manage to put yourself in that much danger? You haven't even been here for a week!"

Leo shrugged. "Sorry, sis, but trouble tends to find me."

"That's an understatement," Percy snorted.

Annabeth raised an eyebrow at him. "Says the one that defeated a Kindly One, a Minotaur, Ares, and an entire boat load of monsters, and that's only within your first month."

Leo snickered as a Percy's face went red.

"Anyway!" Travis Stoll called. "Could you all come back? Chiron won't let us all eat dinner until you get back here, and I'm starving!"

Many agreements rang out.

"Well, you see, we kind of don't know where-" Festus cut Percy off.

.. -.-. .- -. - .- -.- . -.- - ..-

 _I can take you._

"Festus can take us," Leo said. "I think he just wanted to show us the Bunker."

"It's settled then!" Connor yelled. "Just hurry up! I may die of starvation!"

"Stop being so dramatic, you two!" Katie Gardener scolded.

"Aw, you know you love me, Katie."

"I wouldn't love you if you were the last person on the planet, you no good, idiotic, stupid-"

Leo swept his hand through the Iris Message.

"Well, we better get back before Connor dies of starvation," he said in a fairly good imitation of Connor's voice.

The five of them hopped onto Festus's back and rode back to camp.

"Leo?" Beckendorf said from behind him. "Thanks."

"For what?"

"For saving me. Duh."

"Yeah, but the others-"

"Helped, I know. But you're the one that really stepped up to the plate with Festus. He seems to really like you. I'm proud of you, little brother."

Leo would be lying if he said that those words didn't make him feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

* * *

 _He was standing in front of the entrance to the Bunker, but this time, he was alone. No Festus. No friends. No one._

 _He placed his hand on the wall and watched as fire spread from his finger tips._

 _"Fire user," a voice hissed from behind him._

 _He spun around and fell back against the cliff's new door._

 _Everyone he'd met in the past few weeks from Nico and Rachel to Beckendorf and Nyssa stood before him, but they weren't themselves. Their eyes were golden and glassy in a way, like a possessed victim._

 _"Monster," Nyssa hissed. She'd been the one to speak._

 _"Diablo! Murderer! Monster! You killed my sister, you bastard child!" Aunt Rosa was screeching at him, and he covered his ears, but it did nothing to block out the voices._

 _"You little freak! You thought you could run away!" He heard Miss Teresa, his first foster mother, screaming. "No one will ever love you. You're better off dead, you little murderer!"_

 _Blood dripped down his chest from a long since healed stab wound. Pain skittled across his skin, coursing through him in waves from the sharp pangs in the wound to a dull ache in his fingertips._

 _"Why the hell did you even decide to foster him? He's a worthless, useless nutcase!"_

 _"We needed to the money! It was your idea, Johnathon!"_

 _"You little bitch!"_

 _Bangs rang through his mind, memories of that night so many years ago._

 _"Help me,"_

 _"Let her go!"_

 _"Alice! Brandon!"_

 _"Leo! Leo, Carly! Help!"_

 _Silence._

 _They were dead._

 _"Leave," Percy hissed. "No one wants you here."_

 _"Please, please," Leo whimpered._

 _"Leave, run," Annabeth sneered._

 _"Monster," they chorused._

 _Beckendorf came closer, smirking as he raised his sword. "Don't you know that what goes around comes around, murderer?"_

 _"No!"_

 _Fire shot from his hands, lighting the clearing. The last thing he heard before the dream ended were the screams of his friends as they burned alive._

* * *

Leo shot up in his bed.

He reached for his backpack before he stopped himself. It was just a dream; why should he run away over something like that?

For the first time since his mom died, Leo didn't want to leave. He had his brothers and sisters, his new friends. Hell, Beckendorf had said he was proud of him. It was almost like having a family again.

Leo retracted his hand and tried to go back to sleep.

He'd ignore the dream and the urge to run.

For now, at least.

* * *

 _How'd you like it? Review, please!_


	15. He Believes In Me

_Third chapter in one day... or a little over one day since it's one AM where I'm at. I should really be asleep, but it's my winter break, so hooray for me!_

 _NoNameKaneis19- Clovis will be in the next chapter!_

 ** _Disclaimer: I own nothing._**

* * *

The next day, the Hephaestus kids set out to explore the Bunker.

"This place is awesome," Shane said, frozen in shock.

"Agreed, little brother," Leo muttered.

"Awesome?" Jake mumbled. "This place is fudging heaven!"

"Did you just say fudging?" Leo asked, a little worried for his older brother's sanity.

"Nyssa doesn't let us cuss," Alexander told him. "File that away for later use. One cuss word, especially in front of Shane since he's the youngest, and she'll kill you."

"Nice to know," Leo chuckled. "So how about we split up?"

"Nothing good ever comes from splitting up in the movies," Shane spoke.

"Well, this isn't a movie," Leo told him.

"Hey, do you guys ever wonder if this is a movie and we're the characters and we don't know it?" Christopher asked. "Like... somebody's watching our life right now?"

For ten whole heart beats, no one said a word.

"HA, HA, HA!" Laughter boomed through the Bunker.

"Chris, you have quite the imagination," Leo laughed, his sides beginning to hurt from laughing.

"Yeah, but I'm not Chris. Chris is over there." Christopher pointed to a blonde guy inspecting a dusty sword.

Leo sighed. "This is so complicated."

"You'll get used to it," Beckendorf chuckled. "Now... exploring time."

Shane and Leo exchanged glances.

"Don't you mean... Adventure Time!?" They cheered in unison.

"No!" Nyssa yelled from deeper in the Bunker.

Chris (the blonde one) burst into hysterics. "Told off by a girl!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Nyssa screamed from out of sight, enraged.

"I swear that woman has the ears of a hawk," Chris whispered to Leo.

"I heard that!"

Chris gestured in the direction of Nyssa's voice as a way of proving his point.

Leo laughed before going off to explore.

It was odd, to say the least. Leo's mind wandered aimlessly, but his feet seemed to know where to go, so he wasn't afraid of getting lost.

 _"How's the Argo coming along?" A voice asked from near him._

 _Leo turned and his jaw dropped._

 _Before him stood the hull of a gigantic ship that he was sure wasn't there a minute ago. And at the base of it stood three people._

 _One of them looked like him, but older and covered in grease. The other two were Jason and the girl with the choppy hair from previous visions._

 _"Good," Older Leo told them, stiffling a yawn._

 _"Tired?" Jason asked with a smile._

 _"Yep, little bit," Leo muttered, rubbing his eyes. "But it's almost done. Few checks and adjustments, and we'll be flying to the Roman camp."_

 _The girl leaned closer. "You did a good job."_

 _"Thank you, Leo," Jason told him._

As if someone snapped a picture, there was a white flash before the vision vanished, leaving a Bunker full of Hephaestus kids in its wake.

Leo turned slowly, and he walked deeper into the Bunker.

He walked into a workshop of sorts full of weapons, and that's where he saw it.

A toolbelt.

The toolbelt.

 _Pulling bottles of gasoline from the pockets..._

 _Stuffing a dagger into a pocket before rushing off the ship with Percy and two others..._

 _Pulling out wires and tools as he nervously fiddled with objects..._

He picked it up and put it on, pulling out a few pipe cleaners from the pockets.

"That. Is. Awesome," he muttered.

"Leo, come on! Chiron wants us back by lunch!" Nyssa called, and Leo ran towards the sound of her voice.

No one questioned the toolbelt. So many of their pockets were full of small bits and pieces that Leo's toolbelt wasn't out of the ordinary. At least to them.

"Come on, slow pokes," Shane cheered from somewhere outside.

"We better go after him before he gets himself killed," Jake said.

All Leo could do was nod.

* * *

Leo thought that after the Bunker, the ants, and Festus, nothing else weird could happen that week, but nope. Something very weird happened that night. Whether it was a good weird or a bad weird, Leo was still trying to decide.

He'd been in his private room, designing a blueprint for a fire retardant dagger (while fire didn't damage metals easily, it did, and Leo's dagger was already a little blackened).

When his pencil snapped, he'd reached into a drawer, but instead of finding pencils, he found something much more.

Blueprints- genius blueprints.

And on top of them was a note.

 _'These are some of my ideas, but I don't have time to build them all. I'm leaving it up to you. If any of my children can build these, it's you. Just don't tell the others I said that.'_

If any of my children... my children...

After twelve years of nothing, he'd finally gotten a message from his father.

Leo wanted to get mad, but he couldn't.

If any of my children can build these, it's you.

He was putting a lot of faith in Leo; he believed in him.

Leo smiled and leaned forward to examine the blueprints; he was going to make his father proud. He was going to prove that Hephaestus had a reason to believe in him.

* * *

"Why isn't he doing anything?" Hephaestus demanded as he looked into the golden plate that displayed his son.

"Give him a little bit of time. He is simply shocked," Hestia advised.

Yes, Hestia was there. Many gods- herself included- had taken an interest in young Leo Valdez. Some had taken interest the moment he was born, such as her and Hera, but others had taken notice recently.

When Leo Valdez showed up in the Labyrinth a few weeks ago, other gods, even Dionysis and Hades, had gotten a little curious. Not only had Fate changed his destiny, but his powers had increased ten fold over night. Fear had not yet set in because Leo was incredibly cautious of his powers, but paranoia would always be there until Leo made it obvious whose side he was on.

"It's just a note."

"He has not had any contact with you in over a decade," Hestia pointed out, kindly. "Wouldn't you be a little shocked?"

Hephaestus shrugged. "I suppose, but-"

As if on cue, Leo Valdez got over his shock and leaned forward, looking more determine than she'd ever seen him.

Hephaestus sighed in relief as his favorite child (he said he doesn't have favorites, but if he did, Leo would be it) finally moved from his frozen stance.

Hestia smiled.

That Leo Valdez was something if he could get gods like his father and Hera to show positive emotions.

She smiled wider.

It was so rare to see a true hero nowdays.

She patted Hephaestus on the shoulder before returning to camp. Maybe this time somebody would notice her.

* * *

 _Well, see you later. But good news... Trivia is back_

 **According to the myth, how long is the fall to Tartarus (in days)?**


	16. Dream Jumping

_Hello, I decided to go on and get the Clovis chapter done before trivia kicks off, so here it is!_

 _ALSO, IMPORTANT: THIS CHAPTER IS VERY DARK COMPARED TO MY OTHERS, AND LEO'S NIGHTMARES WILL INCLUDE SOME BLOOD AND CHARACTER DEATHS! SKIP THIS CHAPTER IF THAT TRIGGERS YOU!_

 ** _Disclaimer: I own nothing_**

* * *

As a child of Hypnos, Clovis could dream jump.

Okay, you're probably wondering what the heck that is, but it's just like the name. Clovis can jump from his own dreams to another person's to another person's and so on. That's how he gets a lot of blackmail, like how he knows that Connor has a secret crush on Lou Ellen. If anyone asks, you didn't hear it from him.

Sometimes he experienced other people's nightmares, but he had plenty of those in his own mind. He thought he'd seen the worst nightmares possible any time he slipped into Percy or Nico's minds. That was until he dream jumped into Leo Valdez's dream.

At first, he didn't even know it was Leo's. Heck, he didn't know it was Leo's until right before he woke up.

* * *

 _He was standing in a burning workshop, and through the flames and thick smoke, he could see a silhouette hunched over, coughing and hacking._

 _"Help!" A weak voice called before the coughing increased. "Please."_

 _Clovis tried to run, but this wasn't his dream. Therefore, he couldn't interfere._

 _"You shall burn in the depths of Hades for your sins!" A cruel female voice screamed, sounding like a very religious person gone off the deep end. "Murdering your mother and your friends!"_

 _"I-I didn't kill them," the boy cried, but he was coughing so badly, Clovis almost couldn't understand him._

 _"Yes, you did. You burned your mother; allowed your foster mother to die; and watched as your foster father killed Alice and Brandon! That's not even mentioning Jason and Piper and the others!"_

 _"That's not my fault. None of that is my fault," the boy was bawling by now._

 _"Of course, it is. Listen, child, to your mother's screams."_

 _Clovis suddenly became aware of the tortured screaming echoing from behind a metal door. Had it been there the entire time and he'd just not noticed? Or was it's sudden appearance a part of the dream?_

 _"Mama!" The boy cried, kicking the door. "Mama, por favor abre la puerta!" He'd slipped into Spanish, but he sounded like he was begging. "Por favor." ( **please, open the door. Please)**_

 _"Mijo, por favor ayuadame!" A voice cried. "Por favor." ( **please, help me. Please)**_

 _"Mama!"_

 _A scream echoed through the workshop._

 _"Mama, no. Por favor." The boy leaned his head against the cool metal of the door. "Te amo, Mama. Te amo." **(I love you, Mom)**_

 _Clovis was horrified. This child's mother had obviously died, and he had a hunch that that woman had a part in it._

 _"Burn in hell, murderer!" A voice screamed._

 _The last thing Clovis heard before the dream changed was the child's blood curdling scream._

* * *

 _He was still in the boy's dream, but it was different now._

 _He was standing on a battlefield that was drowning in blood and littered with dead bodies._

 _The boy was there, but he was so covered in blood and bruises and injuries that Clovis still couldn't recognize him._

 _His broken brown eyes were fixed on a certain line of bodies near them._

 _"Jason," he whispered, kneeling beside a boy with blonde hair and a scar on his upper lip. His body was so disfigured that those were the only features Clovis could make out. "Te amo, mí hermano. Lo siento..." **(I love you, my brother. I'm sorry)**_

 _The boy broke down on the boy's bloody chest, slipping from Spanish to English as he sobbed, hysterically._

 _"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. Lo siento mucho. Lo siento, mí amigo, my friend, my best friend. My brother. Adios, mí hermano. Goodbye, Jason."_

 _The boy stumbled to the next girl._

 _"Y Piper," he whispered, Spanish coming back into play. "Te Amo. I'm so sorry, so sorry, lo siento, hermana. Please come back, please, come back." ( **Y Piper= and Piper; hermana= sister)**_

 _Being dead- being gone- the girl didn't comply._

 _"Goodbye," the boy muttered. "I love you, my honorary sister."_

 _The boy was obviously closer to those two than the rest, but that didn't stop him from crying over the others._

 _There were four bodies before the last two, but those were the ones that surprised Clovis the most._

 _"Percy, Annabeth," he cried, falling to his knees. "It's all my fault."_

 _Clovis found himself able to move, but he knew that the boy wouldn't see him. He knelt beside him._

 _Reaching out, he placed a comforting hand on the boy's shiulder._

 _To his shock, the boy looked up._

 _"Clovis?" he gasped._

 _The ground suddenly shook beneath their feet, sending Clovis and the boy toppling over._

 _"The seven most powerful demigods of all time," a voice sneered from seemingly nowhere. "Six dead, and one shattered like a glass mirror."_

 _"Gaea," the boy whispered._

 _The earth goddess? What?_

 _"To storm or fire? Tell me, child of Hephaestus, do you have any fire left in you? Or is that flame finally dead and cold?"_

 _"Shut up!" The boy, weakly._

 _"Why would I miss out on a chance to taunt you?" The voice laughed, a horrible sound like nails on a chalk board._

 _"An oath to keep... well, that could be many things, what with them all being dead!"_

 _"Stop it!" The boy sobbed. "Please."_

 _"Begging? How pathetic._

 _"First, you kill your mother and your numerous foster families and friends. Now, just when you thought you'd be accepted, that you'd have a home, you kill your new family."_

 _"NO!" The boy screamed, cupping his hands over his ears._

 _Clovis tried to place another hand on his shoulder to offer what little comfort he could, but his hand passed right through the boy's body._

 _"Don't worry. You can join them," the voice laughed._

 _To the horror of both of the demigods, the ground started to suck them in, burying them up to their shoulders and still, they continued to sink._

 _"Burn in Hell, Leo Valdez!"_

* * *

Clovis awoke with a gasp.

The first thing he noticed was that he was in the Infirmary with the entirety of Cabin Eleven around his bed.

"Clovis," Chiron gasped with relief, "you gave us quite a scare there."

"Yeah, Travis and Connor had to drag your screaming, flailing body all the way from the Hermes cabin," an unclaimed girl named Bree told him.

"What were you dreaming about?" Lacy, a daughter of Hebe, asked.

Clovis couldn't bring himself to answer.

Instead, he turned to Chiron and said, "Chiron, we need to talk."

* * *

Meanwhile, in a barely awake trance, Gaea smiled. Her plan was working.

To get rid of Leo Valdez, all she had to do was drive him insane, one day at a time.

* * *

 _So yeah, very dark. Don't worry, not all kinds the chapters will be this dark, just a few of them because seriously, who doesn't love angsty Leo?_

 ** _How old was Leo when his mom died?_**


	17. Before the Insanity

_The winner of the last question was Luna Space, and she suggested Octavian. I've put him in this chapter briefly, and while he may be a little OOC, there is a reason for that that will come into play later._

 _Also, the Stolls are OOC, but since they make such a brief appearance in the books, this is more like showing a deeper aspect of their characters._

 ** _Disclaimer: I own nothing!_**

* * *

Okay, maybe it was a bad idea to allow the Stolls to talk him into leaving camp, but in his defense, he had a good reason.

Chiron and Clovis wouldn't stop staring at him. The entire day, if they weren't watching him intently, they were following him around, and Clovis was _awake_. Not dozing or anything, and Leo knew he had to get out.

Leo knew from experience that staring wasn't good in any way, and if it could get Clovis to stay awake for more than ten minutes, he was basically screwed.

"So where are we going?" He asked the twins as they walked through the busy streets of New York.

Travis shrugged. "We don't really go anywhere. We just kind of wander until we find something to do. It's better than being copped up in camp all the time."

Leo agreed. As a runaway, he wasn't good with staying in the same place all the time. It was like his entire body sped up, slipping into panic mode without him realizing it. His fiddling increased to the point where his hands were a blur, and he never seemed to stop moving, whether it be going for a run or tapping his foot. His speaking was fast and frenzied, and his mind worked faster than it should. Those were the days Leo got his homework done within ten minutes and still aced it; those were also the days where he got bad grades in classes like history or English, where he had to listen whether than move at his own pace.

Wanting to stay at camp only made it worse. By staying, he was abandoning all of his rules, and having to stay within the camp borders made his mind go into overdrive.

Others had even begun to notice that something was off with him. Leo bet that that was the reason that the twins had dragged him along.

"You alright, man?" Connor asked. "You're fiddling more than usual; that's a tell tale sign that something's wrong."

Leo shrugged his shoulders. "I'm just finally glad to be out again. I'm not good with staying in the same place too long."

The twins exchanged glances, and Leo considered high tailing it out of there; if one more person decided to express their worry for him behind his back, he was gonna-

"You know we're like that, too," Travis told him. "Always running away, I mean."

"What?" Leo asked.

"We're runaways ourselves," Connor answered. "We ran away when we were eight, and we've been running from the past for years. When Grover took us to camp at age ten, we were so used to running, we almost didn't stop. Luke convinced us to stay."

"But that didn't help the urge to run," Travis picked up. "We were always moving if only to appease the need to move and run and leave. By the time we were twelve, the urge to run had been destroyed."

"When Luke betrayed us," Connor said, "we tried to run again. Believe it or not, Clarrise and Katie caught us and convinced us to stay. I don't think we've ever made a better decision."

"The point is while it may be hard to stop running after you've been running for so long, you can do it because you belong at camp. Can you imagine how everyone would feel if you left? Nico is more friendly to you than anyone else, and you got him to start talking to people. Grover's self esteem is through the roof now that you've talked to him. Percy thinks of you as a good friend, and with time, you may become his best friend, alongside Grover and Annabeth. And what about your siblings? They'd miss you a lot. I haven't seen them laugh this much since... ever," Travis finished up.

"So stay, please," Connor added.

"And if you don't, we'll track you down and send you to Hades the hard way," Travis threatened.

Leo smiled. It was great to have such good friends.

"Thanks, guys, but right now, I say we make the most of our visit to New York City!" Leo cheered.

"Amen, brother!" Travis cried. "To the joke shop!"

The twins rushed off, and Leo followed them, laughing.

Only to run into somebody.

He knelt down to help the person pick up their belongings, which he'd dropped when Leo ran into him.

"Are you alright?" He asked as he handed him a book called Prophecies and Prophets, along with another novel called Oracles. Apparently, the kid had an interest in fortune telling.

"Yes, I'm fine. Thank you, " the boy told him when he looked up from gathering the last of his books.

Leo was struck with how familiar he looked. He looked like Luke in an way, but with no scar. Still, they possessed the same thin, straw like blonde hair and sky blue eyes, although this boy's had a smear of green in them. He wore an orange T-shirt, tattered jeans, and looked about fourteen.

Leo helped him up and held out a hand for the boy to shake. "I'm Leo. You?"

"Octavian," the boy answered. The name was almost laughable, but Leo figured that laughing at him wouldn't be the best first impression.

"Nice to meet you," Leo told him. "Now, I have to go meet my friends. They're probably wondering where I've gone off to."

He waved goodbye and left the boy staring after him as if Octavian couldn't believe someone had talked to him.

 _Before the insanity..._

The voice was in the the back _of_ his mind, such a quiet thought that for a moment, Leo almost fooled himself into believing that the thought was not his. That he was simply hearing things.

But he knew better.

* * *

When Leo got back, no one had seemed to notice that he and the Stolls had left. He went on his way to the forges to work on some of his dad's inventions when It happened.

Leo knew that when something good happened, there always had to be an It: the bad thing that ruins the good thing. His happened to be a talk with Chiron and Clovis.

"Leo," Clovis yawned as he walked over, grabbing Leo's arm. "Chiron wants to talk with you."

Leo inwardly groaned, but he didn't protest as he followed Clovis to the Big House, where Chiron awaited him.

"Leo, Clovis and I would like to talk with you," Chiron told him. "Do you know what dream jumping is?"

Leo nodded. "It's when you can jump into the dreams of other people."

"Very good. Now, Clovis here happened to jump into your dreams last night, and he saw that you were having some rather disturbing nightmares."

Leo shrugged. "And? Demigods have nightmares all the time."

"Well, yes, but your's were... especially disturbing," Clovis told him. "And this is coming from a guy that has seen Percy's dreams."

"Really, it's no big deal," he said, firmly. "It was just one nightmare; if I were having these dreams every night, then we'd have a problem, but I'm not."

Chiron still looked worried, but he nodded. "Alright, but if you have another one of those nightmares, come to me. I don't know what it is about those nightmares, but they unnerve me to no end."

Leo smiled. "Don't worry, Chiron, I'm fine."

Little did they know, Leo would soon be far from fine.

* * *

"Master, why is the boy so important?"

"I do not know, but there's something about him. I can sense time wrapped around him in such a way that even I cannot achieve."

"What do you suggest we do, Master?"

"Bring him to me. Alive."

"Master, if I may ask, what does time wrapped around him mean? I've never heard of time being able to do that before."

Kronos smiled, but it looked more like a grimace upon Luke's scarred face.

"I believe we have a time traveler on our hands."

* * *

 _For Octavian, you can either think that he hasn't gone to camp yet, or he's on a quest of some sort, but nonetheless, Gaea hasnot gotten into his head yet and driven him insane._

 _As for Kronos suspecting Leo's a time traveler, that probably will not come into play until the next story._

 _Finally, I have decided that I will finish up this story before updating Sacrifice of Brothers, then Back to the Beginning, and so on. But to make up for my lack of updates, there will be more than one chapter, so I may post four or five for each story, if I don't finish it._

 ** _What is Chiron's cover name (the one he uses when disguised as a teacher in the Lightning Thief)?_**


	18. Last Good Day

_Next chapter is the depart from camp, and then, the last chapter really kicks off The Last Olympian._

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

Leo was having the time of his life.

Many campers were leaving tomorrow, Percy and Annabeth included, so there was this huge going away party. Several had told him that they didn't do this every year, but Leo knew why this year was the exception; a war was beginning. Actually, it'd already begun.

"Oi, Leo!" Percy called, running up to him. "Could we talk for a minute?"

"Sure," Leo said with a shrug before allowing Percy to lead him away from the music and laughter to a much quieter area. "What's up, man?"

Percy hesitated, trying to decide on his words before speaking. "Well, I've been meaning to thank you... for everything you did in the Labyrinth and afterwards. Saving Beckendorf, Festus, Nico, Grover... it was all really amazing."

Leo was taken off guard. Whatever he'd been expecting, it hadn't been a thank you.

"Why are you thanking me? You saved me from the arena!" Leo exclaimed.

Percy shuffled his feet, looking uncomfortable. "Yeah, but... you got Nico to come out of his shell; Grover's confidence has shot up since you last talked to him. Beckendorf is alive because you fixed Festus. I just want you to know that... everyone appreciates everything you've done."

"Uh, thanks," Leo said, not sure how to respond to that. Sure, he'd love to receive thank yous like that for things he deserved, but after a while of not being noticed, he stopped expecting a thank you. "Thank you, too, Percy.

"And one more thing," Leo smirked. "Go for it, man."

Percy started. "What do you mean?"

"Look, everyone knows you like Annabeth," Leo told him with an eye roll. "Heck, I think even she knows it. Now, tell her that you like her because- and I don't want to be too depressing here, but- you may not be here tomorrow."

"And the Valdez wisdom is back," Percy laughed. "I'll think about it, but I don't want to get our hopes up, only for one of us, or maybe both of us, to die in the war."

Leo looked him dead in the eye and said, "You'll live, Percy. I'm not a child of Apollo, so don't ask me how I know that, but you and Annabeth are gonna make it."

Percy smiled. "Thanks, but I guess we'll have to see, won't we?"

"Guess we will. Now, I'll see you off tomorrow, but for now, enjoy the party and try to get up some courage to ask her on a date. I mean, seriously? You fight monsters, gods, and titans, but you're too afraid to ask a girl on a date. That is just pathetic, man."

Percy rolled his eyes, punching Leo in the arm. "Shut up, but I'll do that. Thanks for the talk."

He rushed off, but Leo walked in the opposite direction.

It's not that he didn't like the other campers, but he was never one for crowds or celebrations.

 _"I am not good with organic life forms. Unfortunately, neither are my children."_

Leo turned around, but no one was there.

Damn it, he was hearing things again.

Trying to ignore it for the time being, he walked off to the amphitheater and went to sit by the ever burning fire pit, but he saw that someone else was already there.

She was beautiful, but she was only eight. Her hair reminded him of the crackling embers in the fire- a shiny auburn that looked like burnt, dying flames. Her eyes were the color of firewood- brown with a hint of orange. In contrast to her fire related features, her dress was a plain gray.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Leo said. "I'll be going now."

The girl turned to face him, looking awfully surprised.

"You can see me?" She asked, shocked.

Leo nodded. "Of course, why wouldn't I be able to?"

The girl sighed, sadly. "Not many notice me. You are the first to see me since young Nico Di Angelo last winter."

Leo's eyes widened. "Really, why don't people notice you?"

"Well, I don't know for sure, but I have a theory. Everyone to notice me has an aching heart. Percy Jackson saw me roughly four years ago after his mother went missing. Nico Di Angelo saw me after his sister joined the Hunters, abandoning him to go on a quest with another huntress. And now, you: your mother and many of your foster families have passed; you are experiencing night terrors; and you wrestle with your fire powers and your control over them."

Leo took a surprised step back. "How do you know all of that?"

"Why, I've been watching you since your were born. Leo Valdez, my name is Hestia. Pleased to need you."

Leo rushed to bow. "Lady Hestia."

The girl- goddess- smiled. "None of that. I'm not like the other gods, who will smite you if you disrespect them. I'm known for being welcoming and friendly. You do not have to bow."

Leo nodded. "Sorry, but... you said you've been watching me. May I ask why?"

Hestia smiled. "I will never forget your father the day he met your mother. He returned to Olympus with this bright smile that I simply cannot describe. When you were born, he watched over you, and I was there. I'd taken an interest in your mother; I value hard work and family and forgiveness, all of which your mother possessed.

"The one day neither of us were watching was the day your mother died. Both of us watched over you even more after that, guiding you from enemies, helping with your escapes, etc.

"When you appeared in the Labyrinth, other gods took interest. Although no one could put a finger on it, we all knew you changed in a way that even you may not be aware of."

Leo nodded, slowly. "Alright, but... do you know why my dad sent me those blueprints instead of Beckendorf or Nyssa?" That question had been bothering him for days.

Hestia smiled. "Just what the note said. If any of his children can build the inventions, it's you. He believes in you."

Before Leo could reply, he heard someone calling his name, and he turned to see Travis and Connor approaching.

"I have to go, but I hope to see you again," Leo said with a smile. "I better go see what they want before they tear the camp apart."

Hestia laughed as Leo dashed off to join the twins.

"What do you guys need?" Leo asked as he skidded to a halt beside the twins.

They smiled mischievously.

"Prank time."

"I'm listening..."

* * *

"LEO!"

"TRAVIS!"

"CONNOR!"

The boys ran for dear life as the crowd of angry campers raced after them.

They were a mess to say the least. Many had colored hair, ranging from hot pink to neon green to radical red. Several were covered in silly string or honey or slime or something of that nature. Chiron had high heels on his hooves (let's not even ask how they managed that).

Nico, who had been walking back from the bathroom, froze in his tracks as the mob ran past him. For a moment, he just stood there. Then, he slowly turned around and walked away as if nothing had happened.

Hestia giggled as they raced through the amphitheater. Those boys were something.

Mr. D watched in amusement for a mere second before yawning and going inside to get another Diet Coke.

The twins and Leo ran all the way to Bunker Nine, where they lost the mob.

They exchanged glances, and they silently agreed.

Best. Day. Ever.

Little did they know, this would be their last good day for quite some time.

* * *

 _This will be the last chapter for trivia, although I will pick up trivia again in The Last Olympian story._

 ** _In what MONTH did Jason, Piper, and Leo set off to rescue Hera in the Lost Hero?_**


	19. Saying Goodbye

_I'm back! Not counting this chapter, ONE MORE CHAPTER!_

 ** _Disclaimer: I own nothing_**

* * *

Leo smiled and high fived Percy.

"See you next summer, man," he said.

"See you, and I expect the camp to still be intact when I return, got it?" Percy said with a raised eyebrow.

Leo rolled his eyes. "No promises, but I'll try."

To Leo's surprise, Percy yanked him into a hug.

"Be alive when I get back, okay?"

"Yeah, well, I rather enjoy being alive, so expect me to still be living and breathing next June," Leo chuckled.

"I mean it, Leo, be safe," Percy said, pulling back.

"You, too, Perce," Leo said, suddenly serious.

Percy waved goodbye before hopping into his mom's car.

"Well, I guess I better be off, too," Annabeth told him. "And he's right. Be safe, Leo. Camp's not as safe as we want it to be."

"Yeah, the ants were a big hint, but don't worry, Annabeth, I'm bound to be safer here than anywhere else."

"Yeah, and then, there's me going to San Francisco," Annabeth stated, nervously.

Leo perked up. San Francisco? Why did she think it was bad?

"Hey, my friend lives in San Francisco. She's also a demigod," Leo said. "I can tell her you live there, so she can help you whenever you need it."

Annabeth smiled. "Thanks, but... why does she live in San Francisco? I thought I was the only one at camp that lived there."

"She doesn't come to camp. She's kind of a lone wolf, child of a minor goddess, so monster attacks are scarce," Leo added at Annabeth's look of worry and surprise.

"Alright, thanks. Now, as for you, I expect you to be alive when I get back, and I expect the camp to be just as I left it. That means no tearing it apart with the Stolls. "

Leo laughed. "I'll try, but a guy gets bored."

"Only you, Leo, only you."

To his shock (again), Annabeth embraced him. It was odd because Annabeth wasn't the touchy feely type, but then again, neither was Percy.

She waved before rushing off to meet her dad at the bottom of the hill.

"It'll be different without all of them here. That's for sure," Nico told him as he came to stand beside Leo's shoulder.

Leo nodded. "Don't worry, we'll wreck so much havoc, it'll seem like they're all still here."

Nico grinned, showing just how much he'd changed.

"Well, I gotta go see Will. See you later, Leo," he said before walking off to see Will.

* * *

Leo returned to the Hephaestus cabin to work on his inventions, but was in awe at empty it was. They'd practically lost the whole cabin.

Shane, Christopher, Chris, Hailee, Alexander, and Jake had all gone home, on top of Beckendorf staying with Silena that year at her home in Maryland. He'd told them he'd be back by June 1st, but that didn't make it any less lonely.

Now, it was only Leo and Nyssa.

"Hey, little brother."

Speaking of the devil (just kidding).

"Hey, Nys," he said, turning to face her.

She smiled. "Real empty, isn't it?"

Leo laughed. "More than a little bit."

"Usually Beckendorf stays, which always make the cabin seem less lonely, but I guess it's just us two this year."

"Yep."

"You and the Stolls... try not to destroy the camp," she laughed.

"No promises, sister," Leo said with a grin. "Now, I've gotta go work on a project of mine."

"What is it?" Nyssa asked.

"You'll find out when it's done," Leo said, ominously.

Nyssa laughed. "Well, good luck on it."

"Thanks."

* * *

LATER THAT NIGHT...

The nightmares came back, and this one was especially bad.

 _Leo was standing in the middle of a ring of fire, thick, black smoke clouding his vision._

 _"Hello?" He called, his voice cracking as he dissolved into a coughing fit._

 _"LEO!" A voice screamed. It sounded oddly familiar; whoever it belonged to was young, male, and desperate. "HELP ME!"_

 _"Harley!" The name slipped out of his mouth of its own accord._

 _He went to run through the flames, but when he tried, one of the worst pains he'd ever experienced hit him. He stumbled back and fell to his knees._

 _His arms... oh, gods._

 _He'd been burned._

 _But that was impossible. He couldn't burn. So why were his arms charred and a sickening scarlet in some places?_

 _"LEO!"_

 _Screw the burns. He ran through the flames._

 _When Leo tumbled out of the fire, he curled into a ball, feeling the pain of burns running all over his body._

 _"You know," a voice growled, "you deserve this. You doomed your mother to several minutes of this pain. "_

 _"I'm sorry," Leo whispered as he stood on weak legs. "Where's Harley?"_

 _The man... oh, gods._

 _"You're Luke, or Kronos, now I guess," he muttered._

 _"Yes, and to answer your question, your little brother is right here," he gestured behind him, where two monster held Harley._

 _He knew Harley. He knew that pitch black hair, those forest green eyes, that tan skin and how he was scarily strong for eight. But he was so covered in blood and bruises that Leo barely recognized him; his wrists and ankles were in shackles._

 _"Give Harley back!" He screamed, trying to move but finding his feet stuck to the floor._

 _"Oh, we don't have him now," Kronos told him. "This is but a dream, but we will have him soon enough. Good luck, Leo Valdez. You're going to need it."_

 _And then, Harley vanished. Even the droplets of blood disappeared._

* * *

Leo woke up with a scream on his lips. He clamped a hand over his mouth, knowing that Nyssa was right next door and would surely hear him through the wall.

They couldn't have Harley. They just couldn't.

How did Leo even know Harley? Did they really have him, or was the dream just a dream as Kronos said? But why would they send him a dream like that, and then, tell him that it was a lie?

It didn't make any sense.

So many questions, not enough answers.

* * *

 _A few points I feel the need to clear up._

 _1\. The reason I made Percy and Annabeth so much more friendlier towards Leo in the past few chapters is because it will help slightly with his self esteem, which is really good for Leo and how higher self esteem will affect his actions._

 _2\. Also, I know Beckendorf was a year round camper, and he most likely stayed that year, but there's a reason I'm having him stay with Silena._

 _3\. Kronos doesn't really have Harley. Why he and Gaea (did you really expect them not to work together when this super powerful demigod shows up?) decided to send Leo that dream will be explained later._

 _Thanks for reading. See you with the last chapter and then, the sequel!_


	20. The Beginning of the End

_I know that the attack on the Princess Andromeda was on August 11, but I have my reasons for the change of the date. Therefore, the attack is on June 1st instead._

 ** _Disclaimer: I own nothing_**

* * *

The months flew by until it was a week away from June 1st, and not much had changed at Camp Half-Blood, although more campers had begun to arrive for the summer.

But there was one event that didn't happen very often.

Nyssa Barrera was nervous.

For you, being anxious may be completely and utterly normal, but for Nyssa, this didn't happen everyday.

Had she really just signed her twelve, almost thirteen year old brother up for an incredibly dangerous mission? What had she been thinking?

Let's rewind to that morning.

With Beckendorf not returning for another week, Nyssa had to take over as Head Councilor, and a meeting had been called that morning.

"Alright," Chiron said, looking so anxious that the councilors grew nervous themselves. "The Princess Andromeda, where Kronos's army resides, will be just off the coast of New York by the end of this week."

Mutters broke out before Chiron stamped his hoof, shushing them.

"We have decided that two people- Percy, being the child of Poseidon, and a child of Hephaestus- shall bomb the ship on June 1st. We have two options for a child of Hephaestus. Nyssa, are you or Leo better with explosives?"

"Leo, but I'm not gonna sign up my little brother for this quest."

"Nyssa," Katie said in a voice that meant she was trying to get her to see reason, "Leo's going to have to get involved in dangerous missions. He's a demigod! Besides, he traveled the Labyrinth. I'm sure he can bomb a ship with Percy's help."

"I guess I see your point, but-"

"Nyssa," Travis said, "if anyone can do this mission, it's Leo. I mean, I've seen him work on explosives before. When anyone else does it, they work very slowly and very carefully. Leo just throws it all together without fear. Besides, Leo, Connor, and I have nearly blown up the camp more times than I can count. If anyone can blow up a ship, it's him."

Nyssa shut her mouth. He did have a point.

With the war right around the corner, Nyssa and Leo had started building explosives and storing them in Bunker Nine until they were needed.

When Nyssa worked on them, she worked very slowly and very carefully, almost as at a snail's pace.

But Leo? He didn't seem to be afraid of blowing himself up. He just threw the explosives together, haphazardly.

When she'd asked him, he replied, "Fire's my specialty," and left it at that.

She started to wonder what he meant by that. Could her little brother be a fire user? But she immediately dismissed that thought; after all, that power hadn't shown up in over a century. Why would it show up now?

"Alright, it's settled," Chiron said. "Leo and Percy will be going. I shall Iris Message Percy immediately, and inform him of the plan. Nyssa, I assume you will fill Leo in?"

"Of course," she responded, her mouth suddenly very dry.

"Thank you."

Chiron turned and left the room followed by the other campers, who were oddly silent as they left.

Nyssa stood on shaky legs and went to inform Leo of the plan.

* * *

She found Leo easily enough. He was training in the arena with Clarrise.

She stood off to the side, politely, watching as he fought against Clarrise's spear with a hammer (you wouldn't think it'd be the most effective weapon, but it worked fairly well).

She marveled over how much her brother had improved since the Battle of the Labyrinth. His dodges and attacks were equivalent to her's, and she'd been staying there for years. It was like he'd been training his whole life because even with a sword he wasn't half bad.

She waited by the door, impressed by how long it took Clarrise to defeat Leo. Usually, the daughter of Ares had a person pinned with a sword at their throat in ten seconds flat, but with Leo? They were fighting for a good five minutes before a worn out Clarrise finally disarmed Leo and aimed a sword at his throat.

"You're improving," Clarrise said, stoic, before turning on her heel and leaving. That was the closest you got to a thank you from Clarrise.

"Hey, Nyssa," Leo greeted, wiping sweat from his brow as he stored the hammer in his magical toolbelt (she found out that it was magic back in October). "What's up?"

"Well, Leo, I need to tell you something. "So you know what the Princess Andromeda is, right?"

Leo nodded. "Kronos's ship."

"Well, a week from now, it's going to be right off the coast of New York with Kronos's army. Chiron wants to send two people to blow it up- Percy because of his water powers and a child of Hephaestus."

"And he picked me?" Leo guessed.

Nyssa nodded.

"Alright. I'll get the explosives ready if you get the transportation."

"You're not at all worried that you may blow yourself up?" She asked.

Leo shrugged. "Like I said, Nys, fire's my speciality."

He smiled, waved, and headed for Bunker Nine..

She stared after him. He couldn't really be a fire user, could he?

She'd figure it out when the mission was over, and Percy and Leo came back.

If they came back...

* * *

Leo knew he'd revealed too much to Nyssa by saying that fire was his specialty. But how could he explain that he wasn't afraid of the mission because he couldn't blow himself up because he couldn't be burned? Sure, there was the risk of the force of the explosion literally ripping his body apart, but hey. Been there, done that.

More than that, how could he explain to Nyssa the vision he'd recently had? Or that he was having visions at all?

He'd been walking towards his cabin after working in Forges all afternoon when it hit him.

 _He was walking beside Will, away from Cabin Nine._

 _"How did he die? I mean Beckendorf," Leo was saying._

 _Will Solace trudged ahead. "Explosion. Beckendorf and Percy Jackson blew up a cruise ship full of monsters. Beckendorf didn't make it out."_

The vision faded, but Leo got the gist. Don't let Beckendorf go on that mission.

And then, there was the dream. How could he forget the dream?

 _He was being dragged by two monsters, and his head really hurt at this point._

 _He was shoved into the middle of a bunch of uglies, staring up at Percy standing on the balcony with Luke/Kronos._

 _They were talking, but he couldn't hear anything over the rushing of the blood in his ears._

 _One of the monsters holding him dumped out a sack and a collection of peach cans tumbled to the floor._

 _Kronos was yelling, but he wasn't paying attention to him. He smiled, sadly, at Percy as he lifted a hand to his watch._

 _Percy shook his head, looking afraid._

 _Leo pressed the button._

 _At first, nothing happened._

 _Leo caught a glimpse of himself in a monster's shield and wasn't entirely shocked to find Beckendorf's face staring back._

 _Then, the world exploded._

 _The last thing he saw before the world erupted in a fiery horror of orange and scarlet flames was Percy jumping over the side of the ship with one last apologetic glance in his direction._

Leo woke up and knew that Beckendorf could not go on that mission.

He'd make sure of it.

* * *

A WEEK LATER...

"Are you ready?" Nyssa asked.

"Ready as I'll ever be," Leo responded, attaching the sack of explosives (and peach cans) to Blackjack's back.

"Good luck," his sister told him. "Be careful."

"I will."

Then, Leo flew off to pick up Percy, knowing that he may not be returning to camp.

* * *

"I thought you weren't supposed to help the boy, other than send him the visions?"

"So I altered the time line a little. This is better for everyone."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, things have to happen this way."

"If you say so..."

"What was that?"

"NOTHING!"

* * *

 _I know the dream isn't exactly what happened in the Last Olympian, but since Leo wasn't there, it's bound to be a little different from the real thing._

 ** _THE SEQUEL IS UP! IT IS CALLED THE FIERY HERO!_**


End file.
